Nightmare
by SepticMind
Summary: REMASTERED: The first reports came from Gotham City - of brutal, savage murders. Then the emergency calls arrived, and the Titans found themselves facing another apocalypse, with the survival of humanity resting in their hands.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: And 'Nightmare' is back! The good news? I've already decided on an ending, so hopefully it'll give me the incentive I need to finish the story! Hope you enjoy!**

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"Today, on the Morning News… Psychotic killer, or wild animal? Out main story this morning is on the investigation surrounding a brutal murder of a man in Gotham. Also this morning, Tomas Shelley will be with us in the studio to talk about the recent rise in levels of unemployment and what business owners can do to count the effects of the current recession, and we'll talk to the school boy Adam King who saved his fellow classmate's life during a field trip that went wrong. But first, here's Damon, with the latest from Gotham."

"Thanks Cassie. Two days ago, the body of a man yet to be identified was found by an elderly couple behind their shop on Brighton Road. A mixture of bite marks and scratches are reported to have covered the body completely. Originally thought to be a feral dog attack, the case has now taken a turn for the weird as the most recent information available to us suggests the teeth marks don't belong to a dog at all, but were made by a _human_. When questioned earlier today, Police Commissioner James Gordon had this to say…"

"There is no proof – no forensic _evidence_ – that suggests the man was killed by a human. But rest assure our labs and police force are doing their very best to identify what did kill this man, and whether it is a human or an animal, our dedicated team _will_ find and stop whatever is responsible."

"Police are currently asking any witnesses who might have seen or heard the murder to come forward and make a statement, either through the police station, or through Crime Watch as an anonymous source. The public have also been warned to keep away from stray dogs around the city, and to contact the Animal Pound if one is sighted. Back to you Cassie."

* * *

They fought to stand together as the crowd of Jump City residents crashed against them as they rushed to be the first to the town hall and onto the buses waiting there for the evacuation. A green hawk dived towards the ground, morphing into Beast Boy a meter above the ground, where he fell the rest of the way, landing on the balls of his feet like a cat.

"Still no sign of the army." He told Robin. "I don't think they're coming."

Robin nodded unhappily. "And any demons?"

"I could just see them, which means they're _way_ too close for comfort." Looking at Raven, he smiled gently and nudged her with his elbow. "Except for this one."

The empath rolled her eyes, before telling Robin, "We're out of time. We'll have to do it without the armed forces. It shouldn't be that hard, herding people in a direction they're already going. Hopefully we'll get everyone safely on the buses before the demons catch up. How far away is the closest safe camp?"

"About a four hour's drive. According to Batman, Green Arrow's stationed here. He wanted one of us, thinking we'd be better recognised and this trusted, but I told him no. He acknowledges you and Jason Blood – another Justice League member – are our two best chances at ending this, and I made it clear that if one of us fights, we all do."

He watched his team nod in approval, Cyborg punching the palm of his hand and asking, "So where do we start?"

"Raven, Starfire; I want you two to help the police evacuate the residents. Make sure they're all heading in the right direction, and that families aren't missing people. Also make sure nothing attacks from the side roads. Beast Boy, Cyborg, we're going to have to be the first time of defence on the main street. _Nothing_ gets past us."

The boys nodded, but before anyone could move, Raven interrupted quickly, "Right now, I'm one of the team's stronger assets. I should be fighting. Get Beast Boy to-"

"Raven you're the only one who might be able to stop or reverse this mess. I'm not going to risk losing you this early into the game."

"But I-"

"We don't have time! Now go!"

Raven's eyes narrowed but she bitterly swallowed her orders and levitated up next to Starfire and trained her amethyst eyes on the crowd around them, waiting until Starfire had taken up her post further down the street before shouting, "Follow the Main Street to the town hall quickly but calmly!"

She kept her eyes on the crowd, all too aware of the mixed feelings of fear, anxiety, confusion and tension coming from the people, and aware of how easily a fight could start over something a stupid as a nudge, or how one hysterical individual could lead to an uncontrollable stampede.

"Transport is waiting at the town hall! Please avoid taking up space with anything none-essential!"

She tried to locate her teammates, but they'd become lost in the crowd of people, and looking further up the street she saw several shapes running towards them, far enough away that she was sure Robin and the other would reach them before they reach the crowd, but close enough to make her uneasy.

"Move quickly but calmly!" The empath shouted, the crowd moving way too slowly for her liking, her own feeling of agitation growing as time passed, too aware of how quickly the seconds were ticking away, too aware of the fact that the lesser demons she'd spotted had been running and that the people she had to protect her walking. Her eyes flickered back and forth, between demons and human until she saw an increase in movement up the street out the corner of her eye and turned to see shapes pouring out of alleyways and side streets. She cursed but didn't dare remove her eyes from the threat, as though her gaze was the only reason they hadn't already been overwhelmed.

"Starfire?"

"Yes, Raven?"

She could tell from the alien's voice – calm and distracted as it was – that she hadn't turned to look like the empath had intended. She fought to find her next words, wanting to grab Starfire's attention without getting anyone else's, knowing that if someone looked back now, their crowd of agitated people could turn into a frightened and senseless stampede.

"I think Robin's trying to get our attention."

It was a lie, but it worked, and she heard Starfire's loud gasp, cringing as she waited for the stampede to start, but instead of screams she heard Starfire's voice, growing louder as she got closer.

"Please calmly make your way towards the town hall, from where you will be evacuated to safety. Please, do none of the shoving and pushing. There is room for everyone."

Raven tried to ignore the blatant lie. Although half of the city had been evacuated yesterday, it still left more people than buses in the city. It wouldn't be enough, and someone would have to think of something fast if they planned on saving everyone.

"Robin has called for our assistance?"

Raven looked at the alien princess and shook her head. "No, but have you seen how many there are? There is no way the boys can fight them off on their own."

"We can't let them harm anyone." Starfire said fiercely.

"Great, but unless you have any suggestions, I think it's going to be inevitable."

Starfire frowned for a moment, before asking, "Could you create and maintain a shield large enough to block the street?"

Raven shrugged, before answering, "I can try."

"Good."

The Tamerainian took off with astonishing speed, reaching the boys within seconds. Raven chose to teleport instead of flying, reappearing above the end of the crowd with her arms spread wide and her eyes glowing white.

"Azarath, metrion, ZINTHOS!"

The obsidian wall rose from the ground, soaring up like a bird, stretching it's wings across the width of the street. The shield created panic within the crowd, who didn't need to be told what it was for, but the sound was dull on the other side of the shield. Muted. As though it wasn't real, wasn't behind her, but coming from a TV set someone had left on somewhere.

Having heard the empath's voice, Robin relaxed his defensive stance for a moment to glance behind him, scowling when he caught sight of the two girls. "I told you to-"

"You cannot fight off this many at once." Starfire interrupted, landing beside him, her fists glowing with a green light as she readied two starbolts. "And technically, we're helping the evacuation by keeping them alive."

Raven moved to stand beside Cyborg, and he frowned at her. "You sure you can fight and hold that shield in place at the same time?"

"I'm going to have to." Raven replied, and he nodded.

"I've got your back."

"Raven, Star, since you're here, I want you two to use every advantage you have and attack from the air. Give each other plenty of space and be aware of each other's whereabouts." Robin said, watching the demons run toward them. "No holding back. Aim to kill."

Starfire let one of her starbolts lose as soon as the first demon came into range. The pale white, doughy skinned creature dripped as the ball of green energy hit it's chest and melted its way through and out it's back, hitting the demon behind, but only having enough energy left to scorch it's skin.

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about! You go, girl!" Cyborg grinned.

Seconds later the demon with the scorched skin fell to the ground, disappearing underneath the feet of the others, another two hitting the ground in crumpled heaps before the titans clicked on, looking at the demon stood beside them. As the lesser demons grew even closer, Cyborg altered the settings for his sonic cannon before sending a blast towards the hoard. A black, viscous substance assumed to be blood leaked out the ears of those caught by the blast, their eardrums burst by the high frequency sound waves. Two of the tottered forward before they fell, lost beneath the others within seconds. Raven and Starfire took to the air as Robin threw several explosive disks into the hoard, landing direct hits that ripped one of the demons into bloody shreds.

Beast Boy morphed into a jaguar as the demons reached them, his claws and teeth ripping into flesh. He pounced, landing on the back of one of the creatures. His teeth sunk into the flesh of its neck and found the top of its spin, tearing it out and throwing it aside before his weight ad even driven them to the ground. He pounced again, this time vanishing under a group of the demons, only to reappear as the Beast, throwing two of the demons aside while using brute strength to crush another's throat with his fist.

As the demons surround the grounded titans, more and more made their way towards the shield Raven had erected, scratching and biting at it, banging their fists against the obsidian wall, each blow jarring her body. Black vines shot out from underneath her cloak, each finding its target, burring deep into the chests of five demons, before she lifted them up and with a strong flick of the vines, dislodged them, sending them flying, back into the main hoard. As the vines found another five targets she noticed the five demons dangerously close to Cyborg and concentrated, Cyborg hearing bones snap before they dropped to the ground. She'd began to do the same to the demons surrounding Robin, her vines of dark energy busy attack other targets when a sharp pain hit her behind the eyes, letting her know she was pushing it. She ignored the pain as best as she could, forcing herself to concentrated on the demons surrounding Robin, pushing with her mind until bones snapped and they fell, hitting the ground in awkward heaps. The empath felt something warm and wet trickle its way down from her nose and onto her upper lip and wiped at it, her hand coming away smeared red.

She could still feel the fists and claws slamming against her shield again and again, begging for her attention and gnawing at her concentration, the blood flowing faster from her nose as she eliminated a few of those pushing at her shield, the pressure behind her eyes increasing.

"Raven, you're bleeding!" She heard Starfire gasp.

A glance at the alien showed she was also starting to feel the pressure, her starbolts no longer burning all the way through their targets, and killing about three out of five targets. "I'm fine." She waved her off, before snapping another two necks, her left arm guiding three of the fines towards some of the demons still at her shield, skewering them.

"I understand it is hard for you to keep your shield up, levitate, and be on the attack at the same time. At least find a roof from which you can stand."

Raven started to argue, but saw the sense in what the Tamerainian was saying and nodded instead. "Okay."

She looked up, eyes searching for the closest, lowest roof, the smallest building being an eighteen story apartment block. She flew over to it, standing dangerously close to the edge in order to better see her teammates.

She watched as one of the demons turned away from the shield, training it's dull yellow eyes onto Robin's unprotected back. It had started to crouch, ready to spring forward and Raven concentrated on the curve of it's spine. She didn't hear the bones snap, too far away on her perch, but saw it fall and heard the high keening noises of it's distress. Robin heard them too, and turned, surprised to see how close the source of the noise, pulling a bird-a-rang from his utility belt, and using the sharp blade on it's inner curve to silence the demon, his face matching the waves of misplaced guilt and unhappiness Raven could feel radiating from him.

Her gaze drifted cross to Cyborg, her eyes widening when she caught sight of the mass of demons almost overwhelming him. Her amethyst eyes turned white as she shouted her mantra and flung her arms wide. The demons were thrown back as though hit by a large wave, a sharp pain stabbing her left ear making her wince, the large shield blocking the street flickering as she struggled to hold onto it. She moved one hand up to cup her ear, ignoring the feeling of something warm and wet dripping onto her hand as she turned to face Beast Boy, getting no further than assessing his situation before she heard Starfire scream her name out in warning.

She started to spin round, to face whatever the alien was trying to warn her of, but was too slow, not seeing what crashed into her side, pushing them both over the edge of the building. She let out a startled gasp, the shield of dark energy blocking the street flickering out. She could feel sharp claws digging into her back, but did her best to ignore it, instead watching the floor as it grew closer far too quickly. She tried to levitate, turning in her fall to try and dislodge the demon, every part of her brain screaming the command, but didn't stop falling. She let out a genuine yell of fear then, scrunching her eyes shut as she tried to prepare herself for impact. She could hear the animalistic cries of the lesser demons around her, felt a moment of intense pain, then nothing.

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**A/N: As always, reviews (both critical and good) are always welcome. Let me know what you think to the new starting place. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry about the wait – Muse wasn't happy with the quality of this chapter and made me re-write it god knows how many times, not to mention as soon as I sat down to type it up, I got a phone call asking if I could go and help with an afternoon swim tour, thus I lost 5 hours of time. **

**Reviews:**

**I'm a Lover not a Hater:**_You do remember correctly :)_

**Whitey:** _No, you haven't. And yes, it will since I've already written the ending. _

**To lazy to login (**Echo of an Idiot**):** _My first comment was going to be 'then how am I supposed to know who you are'. Then I read your comment :P Good. I'm glad it did. There'll be more of that. Yes, I am planning on at least giving some insight into that at some point. Glad you're happy to see it's return though. _

**Jknight3135: **_Good! Glad you liked it!_

**TexMurphy: **_Glad you liked it then! I'll try and take on board that use of commas, and about the lack of detail in the first chapter I was going for it to focus more on the action and less on detail and was planning to make sure a good description was given in the second chapter, but thanks for bringing it up anyway. Although I strongly believe writers should write to please themselves, the views of the reads is also important. About the rolling eyes thing, well, to hear that you think it's below the ….quality of the rest of the chapter is well, thanks. Maybe I'll try and find another way to describe the action but it is trade mark Raven. Anyway I'm glad you enjoyed it, and look forward to receiving more reviews from you in future chapters!_

**Dawsen:**_ And since I've already written the ending, maybe this time I'll finish it! :P _

**Silently Watches: **_That I am, though you'll see how I'm planning to show the prior events soon enough. Glad you liked it though._

**Elemental Hybrid: **_Glad you did :)_

**TyrionGreywind: **_So long as it is in a good way! Heh…. You'll see. It's a bit of both – I've kept the things I liked about the original, as well as adding in new and hopefully improved parts around it. I've also planned it out better from start to finish so it has a goal – something to reach, rather than being all rambley and aimless as it was last time. _

**Sonicthehedgewolf: **_Glad you like the idea. I hope you continue to enjoy. Hopefully I didn't take too long to update. _

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Robin grabbed his bowl of cereal and mug of strong black coffee off the kitchen counter and moved towards the sofa where Raven was already sat, a book in one hand and a mug of tea in the other. Placing his breakfast on the coffee table in front of them, he snatched up the TV remote from the table before he sat down, turning the large screen on the wall off standby and flipping through the channels until he found the news. Seeing that they were currently showing weather reports he picked up his bowl of cereal before looking at Raven and studying what he could see of the cover of the book the empath was reading. Noting it was different to the one he'd seen her reading the day before, he asked, "Fact or fiction?"

"Fact." Raven answered distractedly, keeping her eyes on the pages. "And to answer your next question, yes, it is interesting." She paused, her eyes reaching the end of the page before she looked up at her leader. "It's on Tamerainian culture. Starfire read it for me and confirmed it's authentic. With the facts, that is. You're welcome to borrow it when I've finished."

"Does it make any sense out of the random traditions Star keeps throwing at us?" He asked with a smile.

"Some, although not as well as I would have liked. It is interesting though."

"I'll give it a go if I can find the time."

"Oh, I'd make the time." Raven told him. "I think you'd benefit from it. For example, did you know Tamerainians are completely monogamous? Apparently it's something to do with the strength of the chemical biology being their emotions. I'm not sure the author knows much about biology but it is a conceivable-"

"Have you got a point here?" Robin interrupted with a frown.

"You've been ignoring Starfire recently, or so I've been told." She close the book and put it down before she stared pointedly at her leader, knowing this was the only time of day she was likely to get in a full conversation without interruptions. 5am was always quiet in the tower.

"Who asked you to get involved." Robin muttered sourly.

"No one. But if Starfire comes to me one more time to worry out loud about whether or not you still enjoy her company, it'll be your head that rolls. I _know_ you care for her deeply – I'm an empath, for Azar's sake – but sometimes _you_ just need to remind her. My word isn't enough. Take her out on a date, or buy her something nice. It's not like we've been particularly busy at the moment. You have the time."

"And when was the last time you were in a romantic relationship with someone or went out on a date?" Robin sniffed. "I'm not sure you're really the person to be giving 'advice'."

"I don't date because I can't afford to upset my internal balance. That doesn't mean I don't know how to treat a girl," Raven said as she picked her book back up and found the page she'd been reading.

A mix of surprise and amusement made Robin choke on the spoonful of cereal he'd started to eat, the empath looking up to frown at him in a silent question. Waiting until he could speak again.

He grinned as he stopped coughing. "There something you want to tell me?"

Her frown deepened. "What?"

"About why you know how to treat a girl?"

The frown on her face faltered slightly as her cheeks coloured. "It was a hypothetical comment! Besides, I don't need to like girls to know how they should be treated by their romantic partner."

"Defending yourself, huh? I can't remember the last time you did that."

"What's it to you? Besides, it's not me we were talking about. You need to sort things out between Starfire and yourself, or I will," Raven threatened and the smile vanished from Robin's face as his attempt to make the empath leave him alone failed.

"Fine. I'll ask her out on a date. I can even make sure you're a witness if it makes you happy."

"Don't make it sound like such a chore. I know you're a workaholic, but I also know you always enjoy your dates with Starfire."

"We're been a couple for almost three years now. We _live_ in the same building. Doesn't that kind of change the rules? It's not like the only time I see her is when we're on a date."

"Boys." Raven muttered.

"Could you sound a little less patronising?" Robin asked.

"That depends. Do you-"

The klaxons cut through Raven's question and they both jumped to their feet, the conversation forgotten as they moved for the computer, the large screen on the wall going black before it began flashing with an alert the titans hadn't seen since the Brotherhood of Evil attacked titans worldwide.

_EMERGENCY CALL_

Robin and Raven shared a glance before the leader of the titans hit the 'enter' key, accepting the call.

The load drone of background noise was immediate, both titans instantly recognising it as the sound of an engine. Their assumption was back up but the front seat of the bat-mobile, just visible either side of the Dark Knight's shoulders. He looked at the small screen on his dashboard. His cheek was bruised, the purple colouring just visible underneath his mask, a cut going across his chin, looking raw, new.

"Good. You're both here. I don't have much time to explain. Jump City should be prepared to accept refugees from western states along with the surrounding states over the next few days. I expect you will be helping the authorities organise everything."

"What, why-"

Batman didn't give Robin time to finish his question. "You also need to prepare yourselves and your city for an attack. At the moment we're not sure how many there are or how bad this is going to get, but so far they've proved rather resistant to the standard military weapons."

"Hang on a second." Robin said with growing irritation. "Who is 'they'?"

"Haven't you seen the news? Demons." He answered curtly, evidence he was feeling similar feelings of annoyance.

Raven felt as though her heard skipped a beat, having to relearn how to speak before she could ask, "What?"

"Jason Blood confirmed it a few hours ago when the first was successfully killed and taken for study. We're not sure how they ended up here, and I don't have time to find out. I'll be leaving for the Justice League's base to discuss our next move the moment the evacuation of Gotham and the surrounding area is complete."

"Your next move should be to locate the area of-"

"New York is all but over run." Batman cut the empath short. "Right now, it would be a suicide mission. What we need to do is group up, plan… get a solid lead on where they've come from and how before we can do anything." He looked up at something, his blue eyes no longer watching the screen. "I need to go."

He didn't give the two titans any chance to reply before he cut the connection, leaving the two titans to stare at the black screen in disbelief. They heard the doors open, heard their three teammates run in.

"What's it is time?" Cyborg asked as he reached them. "Mad Mod? The H.I.V.E Five? Professor Chang?"

"Turn the news on." Raven told her leader. "If it's really as bad as Batman made out, they'll be airing something."

"That don't sound good." Beast Boy winced. "Come on guys, what's up? And why have you been speakin' to Batman?"

* * *

**Present Time…**

Raven jerked awake, her lungs greedily gasping for air while pain burned through her ribs, bringing her harshly into a state of awareness. As she began to focus more on her surroundings and less on the pain running through her body, she began to feel the sharp, gritty sensation of gravel under her left cheek and down the length of her body, the feeling dulled where her leotard covered her shoulders, torso and stomach, her legs – on the other hand – feeling as though peppered by hundreds of needles.

She remembered falling and winced, really not wanting to find out what condition her body was in after the eighteen story drop. She kept her eyes closed as she slowly relaxed every muscle and tendon in her body before tensing them all, one by one, starting with her feet, making a mental note of every twinge of pain or discomfort her body made, everything sore but unbroken as far as she could tell. Reaching her back, she pulled her arms up beside her as she decided to sit up and tried to push herself off the ground, panicking for a moment when she struggled – and failed – to rise until she realised it wasn't due to broken bones or damaged tissue, or her body at all, but due to unexpected added weight.

Opening her eyes, she lifted her head off the ground and strained her neck to look round behind her, finding something with doughy, pale skin and –judging from it's weight – very dead. She left her head drop back to the ground before she tried to roll over onto her back, having to wriggle about as the body tried to stop her, the moment sending searing flames of pain up her ribs. On her back, she paused to catch her breath, struggling to breath around the pain, before she got her hands underneath the corpse of the demon. Wincing as her hands seemed to sink into it's spongy flesh, she pushed, struggling as her arms groaned in protest and the pain in her chest flared back, the corpse's legs fighting against her as she tried to push it to the side. The body rolled off her, hitting the ground beside the empath with a 'thud'.

She stared up at the cloudless sky for a moment, letting the pain in her chest recede slightly, tentative fingers gently pressing against each rib, three of the bones protesting, the surrounding nerves igniting the flames that licked at her ribs. Letting her hand drop, she slowly got to her feet, her sore limbs and the pain in her chest making her slow and clumsy. On her feet, amethyst eyes searched the street around her, a small, anxious voice telling her she was going to be attacked despite the lack of enemy, creature or otherwise, everything _far _too quiet for the titan's liking. She looked up again, this time at the roof she'd fallen from, before her eyes dropped back to the demon that had fallen with her. It was a grotesque thing, it's pale skin tinged a sickly grey and lumpy, as though the skin and grown over itself again and again too quickly. One of it's dull yellow eyes was hidden behind a lump of skin, the other staring blankly at the sky. Raven nudged it's side with the toe of her boot, wincing as it seemed to sink into it's skin, just as her hands had, before she shook her head, almost smiling as she muttered to herself,

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but thank Azar my father's Trigon and not some lesser being."

Looking at it from a distance – at least, without it being on top of her – it was easy to see why it had felt so heavy, the demon having to be at least six feet tall and broadly built. Feeling a twinge of familiarity, she thought back to all the books she had on demonology, trying to place it, frowning when she couldn't. Leaving the demon alone, she starting walking, quickly but stiffly, as a new question entered her mind.

'_Why couldn't I levitate?'_

She knew she hadn't been so heavy on her powers since Trigon came to earth, during which she'd pushed herself even harder, and sure, she'd grown tired during the fight which had undoubtedly effected her control, but losing it all together?

'_You were denying your fear again.'_

Raven hadn't expected an answer, and it was a rare event when Knowledge worked her way, uninvited, to be heard in the empath's conscious thoughts. She considered it though, acknowledging it wouldn't have been the first time such a thing had happened. Ignoring her original reaction, Raven admitted she'd been rather… calm about the situation right from the word 'go'. As she tried to assess what she actually felt, and if it was fear, her brow furrowed into a frown, distracting her once again as the skin on the left side of her face pulled taunt, her hand going to her face to find bits of gravel stuck to her skin by a layer of sticky blood. She explored that side of her face until she found the wound underneath her hairline, her hair matted around the area, thick with her blood. Raven quickly remedied that by pulling up the hood of her cloak before she brushed the gravel off her cheek, her mind on the injuries she'd sustained before the fall, her hand going to wipe at the skin underneath her nose before she checked out her left ear, remembering the sudden sharp pain she'd felt, finding it encrusted with blood. Raven couldn't think of a time she'd ever wanted a shower more. She started to replay the fight in her head, but came to a dead stop moments later as she realised she didn't know how long she'd been out.

She strained her ears, her panic escalating when she didn't hear the sounds of a fight, or voices, or anything human, finding the part of her mind that received the emotions of those around her – the bit that made her an empath – just as silent. She burst into a run, ignoring her injuries and the pain the sudden movement caused as she prayed to Azar her friends were safe, that she'd only been unconscious for a few minutes at most despite knowing that the only time she woke up with injuries was when her healing powers had exhausted themselves. Something that took a few hours at least.

She reached Main Street, her eyes found dozens of bodies littering the road, all the same as the one that had knocked her off the roof, all ones her and her teammates had killed, their skin – ranging from the pale white of a redhead to tones as dark as ebony – appearing to have grown in lumps over their bones. Again, she felt that twinge of familiarity burrowing away at her brain, but pushed it aside as she searched for any flashes of green, red, blue, purple, orange, or the reflective shine of metal that would pin-point the position of her friends.

Her eyes finding nothing but the bodies of the demons she turned and ran again, this time for the Town Hall, her speed faltering for a moment when she spotted for first human corpse, the blue jeans and grey t-shirt making it stand out from the rest, an eye-sore. She came across more the closer she got to the Town Hall, until she'd counted three, ten, twenty, the bright colour of their clothing making it harder for her to look for her friends until she stopped trying to look and just kept running. If the buses had gotten away, it almost guaranteed her teammates were alive and not among the bodies on the ground.

She tried not to ask herself why they hadn't come looking for her if they'd made it.

Raven was forced to slow down as the bodies, human and demon alike, grouped closer together, threatening to trip her. As she followed the bend in the road, she spotted the first bus, the back window facing her, a line of blood smeared down the otherwise spotless glass, marking where someone had slid down it, probably having hoped to use the window as a last minute escape route. She found herself running again, jumping over bodies of former citizens and demons in her rush to check for the other six buses, her amethyst eyes only finding two more. Calmed slightly by the idea of four buses getting to safety, she stopped running and began to turn back to where she'd come from, coming to a sudden stop mid motion, fear kicking in as she held her breath.

She faced the front of the first bus, her eyes on the hunched over creature in front of it, it's face smeared red and it's yellow eyes on her, hands positioned almost protectively over the corpse by it's feet, the dead man's stomach ripped open. A wave of nausea hit her as her mind put two and two together, Raven finding herself fighting the urge to throw up as she tried to keep her eyes on the demon. She wasn't sure how long they stood there like that, staring at each other, but she could feel her confusion growing as the demon didn't attack her like she'd been expecting until her nausea was forgotten. She took a cautious step forward, frowning when – although growling at her – the grotesquely humanoid demon took a step back, it's dull yellow gaze now flickering between it's meal and the empath. She narrowed her eyes and dropped into a low, offensive stance, almost smiling when with one last growl, the demon backed up, glancing around before it ran.

Until she heard a scream.

The sound snapped her back to reality, and she quickly straightened up before taking off towards the sound, opening up the empathic part of her mind in the hopes of picking up whoever she had heard. The feelings of pure terror hit her almost instantly, blinding her to all but one thought.

'_Good. They're close.'_

She used her empathy as a sort of radar, taking her down a side-street as she ran in the direction that made the feelings of terror stronger until she could no longer take it, her heart beating as fast as a humming bird's wings as she shut that part of her mind down and continued down the street, her ears straining for any noise as she muttered, "Come on. Make some noise."

She paused in the middle of the road, ready to use her empathy again when she heard glass smash, a demon landing in the middle of the road not two shops down from her, shards of glass embedded into it's lumpy, mocha coloured skin. It stated to climb to it's feet but Raven ignored it, running past it and to the shop it'd come from, glancing inside the broken window to find five more, all moving after something. She saw a flash of pink and knew instantly who it was before the girl screamed again. The demon closest to Raven dropped, the empath having snapped it's neck with her powers, not having time to feel relieved that she had control over them again as she saw Jinx, one of the creatures managing to sink it's claws into Jinx's arm and use it's grip to tug her closer. Acting upon impulse, she sent out a wave of obsidian energy that crashed into the lesser beings, knocking them – and Jinx – all aside. The meta-human fell with the demon attached to her arm, the claws dragging through the black material of the sleeve of her dress and the skin underneath, opening up a wound that instantly ran with blood, soaking the arm of her costume within seconds.

Unable to halt her fall, Jinx's head smacked back onto the tiled floor, the impact knocking her unconscious. Raven ran forward as the demons began to find their feet, jumping through the broken window. She grabbed the creature closest to Jinx by the back of it's neck and jerked it off the ground before throwing it at the other three demons before she dropped to her knees beside Jinx and grabbed the girl's uninjured wrist, ignoring the warm and sticky feeling of blood under her hand as she wrapped them both in her soul self and teleported to the first place that came to mind.

The black receded to reveal a room dimly lit by a single, large skylight, the centre of the room full of rubble where a large stone hand had once stood. She quickly straightened Jinx out so she was lying flat on her back, her fear fuelled panic morphing into something else as she spotted the pool of blood quickly wetting the stone around the meta-human. She ripped off the sleeve of Jinx's dress from the shoulder, revealing the deep wound on her arm. Raven had to fight feelings of nausea as she got her first proper look at the wound, able to see a white flash of bone underneath the blood.

She put her hand on undamaged skin of the girl's arm and closed her eyes, willing the injury to heal, almost petrified her healing abilities would still be recovering and unable to do it. Reluctantly she opened her eyes, relieved when she caught sight of the feint blue glow surrounding her hand. Her eyes moved to the wound and she watched as damaged and missing tissue grew back and knitted itself together at an incredible speed. A minute later, and all that remained from the wound was a thick, white scar that ran the length of the girl's forearm. She instantly went about looking for any other injuries Jinx had sustained, finding a cut in the dress over her stomach and a laceration underneath, a small but deep puncture wound on her right leg, just about her kneecap, and after awkwardly rolling Jinx onto her side, three long and fairly deep cuts on her back, one dangerously close to her spine.

Laying the girl back on her back, Raven quickly undressed her, ripping the dress down the front to make it easier to remove before pulling the already blood-logged material out from underneath Jinx and scrunching it up into a ball, placing it underneath Jinx's back so it covered most of the three wounds, hoping the meta-human's weight on the cloth would help slow down the flow of blood, before she went to the puncture wound in her leg, quickly ripping the striped tights away from the injury before placing her hand over it and willing it to heal, the soft blue light surrounding her hand once again. It didn't take long to heal, the scar almost unnoticeable, leaving her with the dilemma of how to roll Jinx over without laying her face down in the puddle of her own blood.

After a few moments of internal debate, she shuffled forward until her knees were touching Jinx's side. She leaned forward, ignoring the way her chest protested, and – getting a good grip on the meta-human's shoulder and waist – pulled forty-four kilograms of dead weight onto her lap. Jinx's back smeared with blood from the floor, the wounds initially appeared much more serious than they turned out to be, two of them healing within seconds, and the third – the one closest to Jinx's spine – the only one to leave a scar, the line of shiny skin longer but not quite as thick as the scar now on the thief's arm. As Raven leaned back, she felt the beginnings of a headache start, and moved to rub the side of her temple, wincing as the gritty feeling of her skin reminded her how bloody she was.

She knew that even though she was healed, Jinx wouldn't wake straight away, especially since, if she had to take a guess, blood loss would have knocked her unconscious if she hadn't hit her head. Raven could heal damaged tissue. She couldn't force blood cells – red or white – to divide and multiply faster than nature intended. Positioning Jinx so she was lying on her back, her head cradled by the empath's knees, she quickly checked the girl's pulse, smiling slightly when she found it steady if not slightly weak.

Letting out a deep breath she tried to loosen the tension in her shoulders, unable to stop her mind from running over everything again and again, struggling – refusing – to believe this was nothing more than another nightmare, waiting for the klaxons to sound and wake her up. As her eyes drifted down to her former enemy, Raven made herself focus, glancing around the dim room, mentally noting her next steps.

'_Check the area is safe, and that nothing else can get in. Find blankets and some clothes for Jinx when she wakes up. Food and water would probably be a good idea too.'_

Reluctant to leave the room, worried Jinx might disappear if she lost sight of her, she took her time moving the girl to a clean patch of floor, removing her cloak after a moment's hesitation and folding it up before placing it under Jinx's head.

'_A torch would be good too.'_ Raven noted as her eyes studied the vast room once more, finding the only skylight – the only form of light – anywhere in the underground temple. _'Something's telling me Jinx isn't nocturnal.'_

* * *

**Hopefully there was enough description of the demons for you in this chapter (appearance wise anyway) I had originally been saving the first, proper detail for chapter two, but I know one or two mentioned it in your reviews. **

**For those who are interested as to why I mentioned a weight for Jinx, for starters it makes a character more real and we all like that. About **_**deciding**_** on a weight, she's obviously underweight. Comparing her height to the rest of the characters (taking away her platforms) we can say (by using average height charts) she's probably around 5f 6, 5f7. Now that's my height, and I'm just underweight at 50kg, trade some of my fat to muscle, and proportionally she'd probably be an inch or two skinner than me in places, and while I was weary of making her seem really small I thought it was a good…. Believable weight to go with. Especially when she's wearing those shoes, because they look like they weigh a ton xD **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N****: Sorry about the long wait – been doing my open water diving course, and it's been pretty solid (but fun). And then Muse wasn't exactly helping either. But I finally churned out something I'm happy with. Mostly. =) It's very different from what I wrote for the story the first time, so let me know what you think.**

**Reviews:**

**Discb: **I've always wondered how the hell Jinx got around in those things(shoes)... Thanks for the update it was fantastic.

_Ahah so did (do) I. A lot of practice, I suppose. Glad you liked it!_

**RainingNight: **Definitely liking the story :D Yanno...it's kinda reminding me of an apocolypse of some sort, can't wait for the next chapter!

_Glad you're enjoying it :)_

**Silently Watches: **Considering her acrobatics, it's entirely believable that Jinx would keep herself underweight. The less weight she has to move, assuming she minimizes muscle loss, the faster she can go.

_Very true, that. The larger mass she has, the more clumsy and heavy footed she'd be. _

**TexMurphy: ***Review pulled due to length*

_Ahah hope it wasn't anything too important. Yeah, it's not easy and I'm often in the habit of over-explaining. Glad it was okay! A little too wordy? How so? Ahah do I? Okay, now that I think about it. Hmmm. Yeah, I've always had trouble with the its and it's and I'll try and pump out some suitably placed shorter sentences. I used to get told off for using semi-colons too often xD Anyway, thanks for the pointers, and glad you're enjoying!_

**Echo of an Idiot:**Well hot damn, another chapter in and more apocalyptic action to enjoy. I have to say my favorite part is just as Raven is waking up and searching for zeh Titans. But now the resident bad luck charm is on the scene things should get interesting real quick and in a hurry. Oh, and before I forget, " That doesn't mean I don't know how to treat a girl,"  
Best line evur. But that's enough rambling for now  
Waiting impatiently for the next chapter, Echo of an Idiot

_Ahah really? Suppose you enjoyed the descriptions? Ahah yeah, I loved that line too. I actually wrote it accidently, cause you know, that would have been MY natural reply. I took it out for a while, but added it back in because it was just too priceless. _

**Dawsen:** Good chapter. I like how you opened with a flashback of sorts.

_You do? Good. I thought it might be interesting to experiment with._

**TyrionGreywind: **Ha, her shoes do look quite heavy. But I did notice that there was more detail, so that was nice to see. And I feel like I should't ask, but are they hiding in the same place as before? Because in the original I thought that was really clever thinking on your part. So maybe we'll find out next chapter?

_Have you tried WALKING in shoes like them? I have and damn after a while your legs ache. Ahah you'll find out when you're reading. I'm not gonna give stuff away in reviews :P _

**D3MI-D3M0N: **Great idea for what you had planned for the lesser demons. I can't wait to see how Jinx will react to Raven saving her, so looking forward to what happens next.

_Glad you liked it. Ahah hope the chapter stands up to expectations. _

**Coot: **Interesting remake of your story! I like how this seems more focused on Raven and Jinx than the original version. Also nice is that Raven 'knows how to treat a girl' - in the first version she didn't seem interested!

_Ahah yeah, in the original while there was gonna be a relationship, it was gonna be real slow building and it just never seemed to happen. _

**OMAC001: **Can't wait to see more.

_Glad you're enjoying._

* * *

_Their cloaks were bright white, almost blinding, marking them as Monks; Brothers of Azar. She trailed behind them relentlessly, tripping over the heavy blue cloak they make her wear. She was the only one in the temple who wore anything but white, making her stand out in the building of pale marble. Hearing the young demon halfling trip and stumble, Brother Mark look behind them, his soft brown eyes finding her, holding an impatient look. _

"_Your lesson was dismissed, Raven."_

"_But it is only early afternoon. What am I supposed to do?"_

_The man smiled in spite of himself. "It's your free time. You know the rules – within that, you are free to do with it what you will."_

"_She should be meditating." A harsh voice muttered, and Raven's eyes found one of the other Monks she only vaguely recognised, his blue eyes set deep in his face and his large nose beak-like. "Not… playing."_

_Brother Mark looked at him, as though enlightened. "I was not aware she was your student, Daniel." _

"_She isn't."_

"_Then I hardly see what this has to do with you." _

_The men slowly twisted along with the hallway until she found herself on the edge of a green field, her feet on harsh rock, barren of grass or anything living. A harsh, cold wind blew sand across a pit so large, Raven couldn't see the other side, and she cautiously approached it, peering down into its black depths, the wind threatening to grab her and push her down. Her face scrunched up as a warm wind, fighting against the arctic chill surrounding the young empath, brought up a smell of decay and rot. She didn't hear the figure that moved around the edge of the pit towards her, completely hidden by a brown hooded cloak but for his feet, which were ever changing – one minute the skin soft and supple, the next thin and wrinkled, and then bone laced with rotten flesh. _

"_Well this is something you do not see every day. Even here."_

_The small girl jumped, startled by the sudden voice, and she turned to look at the figure, instantly intrigued by it. "Who are you?"_

"_I am a guardian of the dead."_

_Raven's head cocked to one side as she listened carefully to its voice, unable to tell if it was a man or woman. It held too many tones, too many pitches. "I'm-"_

"_I know who you are, Daughter of Trigon." _

_She almost tripped over her feet as she stumbled back in alarm. "How?"_

"_I know the name of every man and woman bound to pass by me. You're a long way from home, Raven." _

"_I had some questions." She told it nervously. "I thought coming here might answer them."_

"_Curiosity killed the cat." The figure began to change as it spoke, its brown cloak bleaching to white, a familiar face appearing within the folds of material._

"_I'm no cat," Raven replied firmly._

_The man laughed in the voice of Brother Mark, a rather fond smile on his lips. "No, you aren't. Mother Azar warned me of your growing curiosity. She also told me to answer your questions."_

_Raven smiled at that, pleased, and asked, "Trigon is a demon, so that means He's from hell, yes?"_

_The smile vanished from the man's face as he frowned, "Have you asked Mother Azar?"_

"_No. That's why I'm asking you. I… don't like to talk about Him with Azar. I don't like the look she gets in her eyes." Raven admitted quietly. "It makes me angry." _

_The monk tried to recall every expression he'd ever seen his Priestess wear while addressing Raven. Kindness, concern, reassurance… "What look?"_

_She shrugged, her eyes dropping to her feet, already preparing herself to be reprimanded. "I'm… not sure. Pity. It's like pity. It makes me angry. I'm not weak; I could-"_

"_Let me caution you to _think_ about finishing that sentence." The warmth had gone from his voice, warning her. _

"_You taught me to avoid things that make me angry so I am." She quickly defended herself. "That's why I'm asking you." _

"_You can't ignore a person, Raven, especially not someone like Azar. She doesn't think you're weak. None of us do. If you were, you would have succumbed to your father's influence a long time ago. No. She is empathetic towards your struggles. There is nothing wrong in that. It means she cares for you." He sighed when she didn't respond. "To answer your question, no. He is not from Hell." _

_Raven looked up, surprised he'd gifted her with an answer and frowned. "But… my soul self…"_

"_Is trapped in Limbo, yes. Trigon's soul resides in Hell – has done since the Order imprisoned him. Where he belongs. He betrayed family, his people… within minutes of his birth. He is a truly evil creature."_

"_Trapped in ice." Raven muttered, more to herself than Brother Mark, but the monk nodded. _

"_You've been reading." _

"_But he's interdimensional. Like me?"_

"_He is."_

"_Then why can't he travel back and forth." Raven frowned. "I want to know what's stopping him."_

_The smell of rot filled her nose as Brother Mark contorted into folds of brown material, the pit reappearing by her feet once more. "I… could take you on the tour, young demon, should you wish. You won't come under harm beside me." _

_Raven watched the figure suspiciously, remembering one of the monk's words to her. _"Nothing is free, and sometimes, you'll find it isn't worth the cost." _"Why? What do you hope to get in return?" _

"_I hope to have my own curiosity sated. I wish to better know the girl who will destroy so many lives. It won't cost you anything, child." _

_She looked behind her as though she could see Azarath within the green field of ghostly shades. She was scared; scared of what lay beyond and scare of the unknown punishment waiting for her at home. But exited too. Looking at the figure beside her, she nodded brusquely. _

_He offered her an arm, a bone hand appearing from the folds of material, covered with soft pale skin by the time she took it. "First, we must jump."_

"_Jump?" Raven repeated with alarm as she stared down the pit that smelt of death and decay. _

"_Why are you afraid of falling, little demon, when you can fly?"_

_The creature jumped over the edge, it's weight and grip on her arm pulling her with it, the darkness surrounding them. _

Raven woke herself with her own shout of alarm, and she quickly sat up, her eyes scanning the gloom for the figure with the ever changing hands and feet, instead finding Jinx not ten feet away, nestled in a pile of blankets, her deep and steady breathing letting Raven know she'd regained consciousness at some point and was now truly sleeping. She closed her eyes, still able to remember the cloaked nightmare like it had been yesterday. It had been a long time though, and the complete memory had been lost to her a long time ago. Raven couldn't even remember the last time she'd thought about it, or even the conversation she'd had with Brother Mark, though she knew they were memories.

"Why now?" Raven muttered to herself. "Why show up now? Wasn't Trigon's take over a good enough time?"

She squinted at the large skylight on the roof of the cavern, trying to judge the time of day as she rotated her shoulder and tried to work some of the stiffness out of them. She hadn't planned on falling asleep – she definitely hadn't planned on falling asleep on the cold stone – even though her earlier search had proved the area was safe.

She kept seeing herself falling in her mind, again and again; could feel the rush of air, the queasiness of her stomach as it protested to the sensation of falling, the warm press of the darkness, she could even smell the pungent scent of decay, growing stronger the further she fell, and time and time again she hit a wall within her memory. Suddenly feeling restless she stiffly got to her feet and had begun to stretch out her aches and pains when Jinx stirred, one of her arms struggling to push the blankets off her as she opened dazed eyes. Raven could feel how groggy and confused the woman was, before her breathing spiked with sudden panic and she began struggling, her thrashing doing nothing but wrapping the blankets tighter around her.

Raven quickly moved over and got onto her knees beside the thief, her hands holding Jinx's shoulders down, trying to keep her still as she said, "Jinx, it's okay, you're safe."

The empath tried to get a better grip on the girl when she didn't calm down, aware that restricting the girl probably wasn't going to help much, but not knowing what else to do.

"Come on Jinx. It's me – Raven. You're-"

One of the thief's arms broke free and Jinx's fist smashed into the side of Raven's face, the force of the blow mixed with Raven's shock knocking her backwards. Raven rubbed her jaw as she watched Jinx cautiously, as though she expected her to try and hit out again. When one of Jinx's boots almost found the empath's already damaged ribs, she lost her temper and stood abruptly, grabbing the thief's skinny ankle before she yanked her free of the blankets and onto the cold, hard floor, deciding to try something she'd only seen people do in films.

Going back to her knees beside Jinx, she quickly and harshly slapped her. The loud echo of the blow made her wince, but the meta human stopped struggling, a look of pure surprise plastered across her face. Wide eyes found the titan, who relaxed slightly.

"Raven?"

"Are you okay?"

Jinx didn't reply with a verbal answer. Instead, her own palm found Raven's face, too quickly for the titan to react as she scowled, her voice hot with anger. "Don't fucking slap me! Who the hell do you think you are?!"

"You're fine." Raven muttered as she nursed her cheek, eyes stinging from the blow, which had been rather powerful despite the girl's position on the floor.

She watched the scowl on Jinx's face turn into a confused frown as she sat up and studied their surroundings. "Where are we? An' what happened? I was surrounded and…" Fuchsia cat eyes focused on the empath. "That black wall of energy… that was you! You saved me!"

"You're lucky you have such a loud mouth." Raven replied, taking some enjoyment out of Jinx's expression as she tried to decide whether or not she should be offended. "Why were you on your own? Where are you team mates?"

Raven was hit by the sudden feelings of guilt and pain that swallowed Jinx and regretted asking. "They found a way into our base without us knowing." She glared at the floor for a moment, before shrugging it off with some effort and looking at the titan. "What about you guys? Where's Cy, and Bird Brain? Beast Boy? Starfire? They here?" She looked around again as though she might have missed them the first time.

"No. We were separated during the initial rush. I have no idea where they are." Raven got to her feet and found the crate of water she'd collected off one of the buses sat by the main hall, grabbing a bottle and cracking open the lid before passing it to the thief. "Drink – you lost a lot of blood, and while I managed to heal your wounds, your blood cell count is beyond my control."

Her injuries coming back to her, Jinx's head snapped down to study her body in alarm, her sense of urgency not lasting long as she looked back up at the empath. "Where are my clothes?"

"On the floor, ripped and blood soaked." She only just managed to hide her embarrassment as Jinx's question brought the girl's state of undress to her primary attention, the clinical mindset she'd been using when she'd healed the girl earlier gone.

"You know, usually you at _least_ buy a girl a drink before you undress her."

"Considering you were unconscious and threatening to bleed dry, the gesture wouldn't have been appreciated." Raven managed to reply dryly, making the thief laugh with surprise. "For all you know, I did."

Jinx shook her head as she rubbed her eyes. "Damn. I wasn't expecting you to have a sense of humour."

"There are some clothes folded on the floor behind you, next to the blankets. I'm not sure how well they'll fit, but I thought it'd be better than your underwear. What little of it there is. If, for example, you'd decided to wear a bra, this would be much less awkward."

"Why bother? Not exactly like I've got much for a bra to support. Besides, they're uncomfortable." She moved to stand, but moved too quickly, the dizziness hitting her almost instantly, the empath quickly moving to support the meta human as she stumbled, some of the water sloshing out of the bottle onto the floor. "Shit."

"Careful." Raven frowned as she slowly released the girl's arm.

"How much blood did I lose?" Jinx asked, and the titan shrugged.

"More than enough. The puddle's still there if you're that interested."

"…eww."

"Get dressed, and then we'll get some food into you before we go and look for the other titans. Your team too, if you-"

Jinx shook her head at the empath, interrupting her. "No. No one to look for." Before Raven could ask any questions, she accused, "You never told me where we are."

"We're underneath a section of the city. Don't worry – we're safe here. Not only was it built to keep out unwanted things and people, I've checked the area for any openings large enough for one of those creatures to get through." She told the girl, who'd moved to find the clothes behind her, keeping a close eye on the thief in case she stumbled again.

"This some sorta titan base?"

"Not exactly."

Pulling the black top Raven had found for her over her head, Jinx asked, "So, how you plannin' on finding your teammates?"

"By searching for them like anything else lost. We'll start where I last saw them."

"And if we don't find them?"

"We will." Raven insisted.

The thief shrugged, taking a drink from the bottle Raven had given her, grimacing when she found the water was warm, before asking, "So did I hear you mention food, or was I hallucinating? I'm starving."

* * *

Jinx shivered as the cold, black energy receded and she hugged herself as she complained, "Damn, that was weird. How the hell do your team mates-"

She fell silent, her eyes widening as her mind caught up with what her eyes were seeing. Her gaze focused on the body of a man not five feet from her, a large chunk of flesh missing from his throat, and she swerved round away from the sight as her stomach violently emptied itself.

Worried, Raven quickly moved to support the thief with one hand around the girl's waist while the other held her pink hair back. "Oh Azar, Jinx. I'm sorry. I didn't even think about whether or not this might upset you."

"A warning would have been nice." Jinx muttered, letting Raven support her until she was sure her stomach and settled.

"You can wait back at the-"

"No." Jinx interrupted as she straightened up, shaking her head. "I'm good."

The empath studied her sceptically, commenting sarcastically, "Yeah, you sure look like you are."

Irritation surged through Jinx, and she roughly shoved the titan away from her. "If I say I'm okay it's because I _fucking_ am. Got it?"

Raven raised her brow at the thief but decided to humour her. "Okay. Got it."

She watched Jinx take a deep breath before she made herself study the area, her eyes eventually finding the three buses. "…Shit."

"There were originally seven buses. Hopefully the other four got away safely."

"So much for the big plan, huh?"

"They arrived sooner than anticipated." Raven nodded slightly.

Finding one of the grotesquely deformed creatures, Jinx nudged it with her boot, her face a picture of disgust. "Here's a question for you. Exactly what are 'they'?" Her eyes lifted off the body as she glanced around nervously. "An' you're sure we're not gonna get ambushed or anything?"

"You're safe with me." Raven waved away her concerns before saying, "They're demons. Lesser demons, thankfully."

"Demons? Very funny. Now seriously, what are they?"

The empath didn't bother replying as she made her way into the middle of the road, towards a heap of several bodies.

"I mean, demons aren't real. What sorta idiot do you take me for? No-one in their right mind would believe that." She said as she moved after Raven, not wanting to leave much space between them. She watched the titan stop, something having caught her attention, frowning when Raven hunched down and started pushing bodies aside. "What the hell are you doing?"

The empath visibly relaxed as she tugged on a scrap of purple material she'd seen and found it connected to a blood stained T-Shirt. She let it drop as she straightened up to her full height. "Checking my teammates aren't here. Some _help_ would be appreciated."

"Nuh-uh. No way. I don't think so. I may owe you my life, but I could owe you my life a hundred times over and it still wouldn't be enough to make me search through piles of dead, half eaten people. Of which there are loads. Did you _miss _the part where I threw up? Besides, when you said we were gonna look for your team I imagined us looking for _living_ people."

"Why waste time searching the entire city when – as much as I don't want them to be – they could be right here somewhere?"

"Well that's stupid. Using the same logic, why would you waste time lookin' through dead bodies when they might be alive and somewhere else?" Jinx scowled. "If you ask me, I don't think we should be doing either." Raven frowned at her, and she shrugged. "We've got an entire _city_ to search – it's gonna take a while, so our first priority should be makin' a liveable base. Now we got a location, but it aint exactly comfortable. So I say we kit it out with mattresses, food, other shit we might need… maybe even a generator and stuff, and _**while**_ we're scavenging, we can keep an eye out for your team." She watched as Raven silently mulled over her words for a moment, before adding, "You'll thank me tonight when you don't find yourself sleepin' on a cold floor."

The titan finally nodded. "Fine. We'll do it your way."

"Of course we will. I wasn't leader of the H.I.V.E for nothin'."

* * *

Beast Boy slowly pushed the door open, his ears stood at attention as he listened out for anything demonic, his sharp eyes quickly scanning the street as he stepped out. Deciding it was safe he cleared the doorway and looked back at his two friends, signalling to them that it was clear. Cyborg and Starfire joined him, the alien brimming with unchecked anger.

"We must go after the hoard! We can attack them from behind and-"

"And what? Be overwhelmed again?" Beast Boy interrupted, his voice uncharacteristically harsh.

"BB's right, Star. There's too many of them. It'd be suicide." Cyborg nodded grimly.

"But those are innocent people running for their lives! People that we are supposed to protect!"

"Getting killed won't protect anyone. You heard Raven at the beginning of this. Our best shot is finding out where they've come from and finding a way to send them back, not chase after them. There's too many." The changeling repeated Cyborg.

"Speaking of Raven, it'd probably be a good idea to search for our missing teammates." The robotic titan suggested with concern. "We lost Rae ages ago, and I have no idea where Robin went…"

"He said he had heard the screams from inside a building and went to check it out." Starfire informed them, crossing her arms as she added, "If he were here, he would have us chasing after those demons."

"We don't like it any more than you do, Star." Cyborg told her softly. "But even we have to admit that sometimes it really is about the bigger picture. We won't save the world by trying to kill every single one of those creatures. There really are too many. We need to attack the source, and for that we need to find Robin and Raven."

"Did anyone see what happened to Rae?" Beast Boy asked.

"She fell. But I am sure she is fine." Starfire added quickly, seeing their concern. "She is most resilient."

"Fell? From what height?" Cyborg inquired as Beast Boy pulled out his communicator.

"I can't be sure, but the building looked to be maybe twenty floors tall." Cyborg stared at her in alarm. "It was probably only fifteen. Ten, even. It was all very quick, and it probably looked taller than it was." Her expression faltered. "I tried to reach her but it all happened so fast, and you were surrounded on the ground and-"

"You're right. She's resilient." Cyborg repeated her earlier words as he tried to smile comfortingly.

"Beast Boy calling Raven." The changeling spoke at his open communicator, frowning with worry when both screens filled with static, red print telling him there was no signal. "That can't be good."

"Maybe it's just a faulty signal." Cyborg suggested optimistically. "Try callin' me."

"Beast Boy calling Cyborg."

Cyborg's arm bleeped at him and he answered the call, the picture on the small screen built into his arm as clear as anything. "Okay, so she fell of a building with twenty floors – her communicator probably smashed up. What do you expect?"

"That Rae smashed up with it?" Beast Boy worried, his ears flattened against his head.

"Star's right – that girl's made outta some seriously tough stuff. I'm sure she's fine. She's probably lookin' for us right now. Try callin' Robin. With some look he'll answer and make findin' him a whole lot easier."

The green titan didn't look convinced, but did as Cyborg suggested, slightly more encouraged when it didn't tell him there was no signal. That encouragement quickly dwindled when no-one answered the call.

"It's okay. We can still track his communicator." Cyborg quickly told them, hastily pressing several buttons on his arm.

"Can you track Raven's?" Beast Boy asked.

"Depends how badly damaged it is." He answered. "Okay, according to this, Robin aint even three blocks away."

"Then let us proceed to find him." Starfire quickly said. "Where is he?"

"This way." Cyborg began walking, powering up his sonic cannon. "BB, keep an eye out behind us."

"I got us covered."

"He must have found whoever he heard calling for help." Starfire decided.

"He's stationary, whatever he's doin'. Suppose if he's found civilians it'd be too risky to leave the building." Cyborg told them.

"Then why hasn't he called us? Why didn't he answer his communicator?"

"Maybe he's fighting?" Cyborg suggested.

"Then we must make with the haste!"

* * *

"In here." Cyborg quietly told his team mates as he pointed at the door. Starfire moved to cover the guys backs, trying to keep an eye on both ends of the corridor as Beast Boy prepared to open the door, Cyborg stood with his sonic cannon aimed, ready to blast anything that might decide to come through once it was open.

He counted down with the fingers on his right hand. '5', '4', '3', '2'…

On '1', Beast Boy pushed the door open, flushing it flat against the wall. When nothing immediately threw itself out the door to attack them, Cyborg went inside, doing a quick scan of the up-market hotel room before checking behind the two closed doors, finding a wardrobe and a bathroom, both clear of monsters.

"I don't get it – he should be here." Cyborg frowned as he made his way back into the main room. Frustrated, he looked around, his heart sinking with disappointment as he spotted something yellow on the oak flooring. He bent down and picked it up before showing it to his friends, both who were still stood by the entrance to the room.

"You're kidding me." Beast Boy frowned.

"He must have dropped it. The good news is there aren't any bodies, and there's no sign of a fight, which means he's still alive."

"But how are we meant to find him?" Starfire asked. "He could be anywhere!"

"Let's go to where we last saw Rae first. With a bit of luck, we _won't_ find her. Then we can work on searching the city for them both."

* * *

Jinx watched until the empath nodded, trying to stand as far away from the door as she could before she shoved it open, Raven instantly stepping inside, ready to attack anything that moved. Finding it clear, she motioned for Jinx to enter, the girl quickly closing the door before scanning the room for something to prop against it to make it harder for anything that might try to get inside, finding a large shoe chest, which she struggled to slide in place while the empath checked out the other rooms.

Happy, she walked further into the room, dumping the backpack she'd grabbed on their way here onto the floor as she studied the room. Like most apartments in the city, the living room, kitchen, and anything else the owners had decided to cram into the space was open plan – all the easier to rob, as Jinx saw it.

"Bathroom and the two bedrooms are all clear." Raven said as she appeared in the furthest doorway. "Remind me again why we're barricading ourselves into an apartment."

"End of the world or not, I need a shower." Looking at Raven's blood stained face, she added, "So do you. And sooner or later the electricity in the city's gonna go. Wouldn't you prefer to get a hot shower while you can?" Opening the backpack, she emptied out the clothes they'd picked up, tossing Raven's hers. "I'll even let you got first. I'll search the cupboards for anythin' useful while I wait."

Intrigued by Jinx's sudden assertiveness, she asked, "And if one of the creatures finds its way in here?"

"You better not pause to get dressed before you save my ass." Jinx replied with a grin. "Now hurry the fuck up – the dried blood on my skin is makin' me itch like crazy."

Jinx watched as Raven disappeared back through the doorway and shut the door behind her before pulling the tags off the clothes she'd picked out for herself and dropping them onto a white leather sofa sat awkwardly close to a TV. Picking up the now empty backpack, she made her way over to the kitchenette and began searching the cupboards for anything useful, finding several cans and packets she threw into her bag, along with two plastic dishes and some cutlery as an afterthought. Reaching the sink, she placed the backpack down on the kitchen top before running the cold water and rinsing the bad taste from her mouth with relief. She straightened up as she turned off the tap and had begun to go back to searching the kitchen cupboards when a kettle sat on the side caught her attention and she paused, trying to decide whether or not it would make too much noise, before deciding it couldn't be much louder than the shower was and checked how much water was in it before switching it on to boil.

She went back to the cupboard she remembered seeing cups in and grabbed two, finding and putting instant coffee granules in hers – along with two heaped spoons of sugar – then hesitating at the second mug and turning to frown at the bathroom door when she realised she had no idea if the titan drank coffee. With a shrug, she quickly searched the cupboards for teabags, putting the box she found next to the coffee on the counter-top and filling both mugs with water as the kettle finished boiling. She had her head in the fridge when Raven left the bathroom, studying the open carton of milk she'd found as though it might come to life and bite her.

"Well, it didn't take you long to make yourself at home."

Jinx ignored the venom in the titan's words and turned to face her, holding out the carton of milk. "Think this'll be alright? I mean, we have enough to worry about without food poisoning, but I _really_ prefer to have milk in my coffee." When Raven didn't instantly reply, she lifted her eyes up from the carton, the purple and black bruising that was just visible above the neckline of the tank top Raven was wearing instantly catching her eyes.

"Shit! Are you okay? When did you get those bruises?"

Raven uncomfortably tugged at the neck of her top. "When I became separated from the rest of the titans. Most of it should have healed within the next few days."

Jinx frowned, but left it, reasoning that she hadn't noticed any stiffness in the titan's movements, so it couldn't have been too bad. "I didn't make you a drink – don't know what you like – but I filled a mug with hot water for you, and you have coffee or tea to choose from." Deciding the milk was safe, she closed the fridge door before moving over to the cups, pouring a large amount of milk into hers and carefully stirring, the liquid reaching the top rim. "How _did_ you get separated?"

"We were fighting at least one to every fifty demons." Raven frowned. "How do you think?"

The thief shrugged. "Fine, don't share. Not that it makes a difference to me. I found some food. You know, I'm thinkin' that a mini-fridge or somethin' might be a good idea. Eventually keepin' anything like fresh milk or meat is gonna be impossible if this isn't cleared up within the week, but while the city's still full of unclaimed, working fridges and freezers it might be worth finding our own, hooking it up to a generator and stocking up."

"You're going to carry a freezer back to base?" Raven asked sceptically.

"No. You're gonna teleport it there. Just like you are with the generator and anything else too big to go into a backpack."

"You're going to have to say 'please'."

"Why? You need food and stuff as much as I do." Jinx frowned.

"Do I?" Raven asked. "Assumptions are dangerous Jinx. They get people killed."

"So what, you're plannin' on starving yourself?"

"No. My body simply doesn't need as much food as yours."

"Okay, whatever. Please?"

The empath smiled, watching Jinx walk past her with her coffee and pick up the clothes on the sofa, waiting until Jinx's gone into the bathroom and begun to shut the door before saying, "And Jinx?"

The thief popped her head around the doorway and frowned at the empath. "What?"

Her smile shifted slightly, making the meta human feel uneasy. "Don't try to order me around."

Jinx slowly closed the door and stared at it for a moment before she grinned, deciding she liked the titan, who pleasantly surprised her each time she disproved one of the many rumours floating around about her. She turned on the shower and stripped, studying herself in the bathroom's small mirror as she waited for the water to heat up, trying to find all her new scars. She found the one on her arm first, and she ran her fingers across the raised skin. She couldn't remember getting the wound, and made a mental note to ask Raven about it later. She spotted the scar sat low down on her stomach next, small compared to the one on her arm, and it sat smooth against her skin, but it was still enough to darken the thief's mood as she studied it self-consciously, quickly deciding it was ugly. Turning round, she searched for the wounds on her back she did remember getting, only finding one long scar running down alongside her spine. Her hand reached back to rub at it, several large flakes of dried blood coming loose from her skin.

She closed her eyes and found herself running, trying to throw encouragements at Gizmo as she stopped herself from overtaking him, able to hear the creatures as they chased the villains through the corridors of their base. See-More tripped, and Jinx stopped, turning round and throwing hex after hex as she screamed at the boy to get up. She waited until he'd ran past her before moving, too afraid to look back and see how close the monsters were.

Mammoth and Gizmo had reached the door leading out of the base, the small genius hastily typing in the pass-code as Mammoth told them to move faster, as though they weren't already running full pelt. Something growled, close enough that Jinx let out a startled cry seconds before she felt something land on her back, the weight knocking her to the ground. She screamed as something dug itself into her back. She didn't see Mammoth run over, but before she knew it the weight on her back suddenly disappeared, and whatever had buried itself into her skin ripped down her back before coming loose.

She looked over her shoulder to see Mammoth throw the creature down the corridor, but the moment it'd left his hand another one jumped at him, its clawed hands digging into the giant's shoulder. Someone grabbed her hand, and See-More pulled her to her feet before shoving her towards Gizmo, the pain in her back turning to fire with every movement.

"Go with Gizmo! I'll help the big guy."

Jinx missed the look See-More gave Gizmo as she turned and ran for the now open door. As she ran through, Gizmo followed close behind, the small thief moving straight for the outside keypad, and before Jinx had realised what he was doing, typed in the command for an emergency lockdown. The doors quickly began to close as the lights inside the base started to flash red, the meta human knocking Gizmo aside in panic as she began typing away at the keypad.

"No, no, no, no!" Triggered by her over stressed and frantic emotions, the control panel fizzed pink and stopped working. Enraged, she punched it, her hand going through the top layers of glass and plastic before she turned and grabbed Gizmo by the collar of his shirt, lifting him so he was eye level. "Open the door. _NOW!_"

Gizmo shook his head. "And let them get us too? No. I altered the emergency shutdown so it left one door open. See-More and Mammoth know that - if they can, they've got a way of gettin' out."

Jinx brought her fist back, ready to punch the guy when they both heard a low growl, Jinx dropping her teammate as she slowly turned to face the noise.

Her gaze found four sets of dull yellow eyes watching them and tension rippled through her shoulders, igniting the pain in her back. She heard the sound of someone knocking and frowned, everything seeming to fade as she focused on the alien noise. Opening her eyes, she found herself looking at the bathroom mirror, which had quickly started to fog up.

"Jinx, are you alright?"

The meta human frowned, not understanding why the empath would ask such a random question, or why she would sound so concerned, her voice scornful as she turned to look at the door and replied, "Yeah. Why?"

"I just felt… never mind."

She listened to Raven's footsteps as they moved away from the door before she made herself move to the shower and underneath the scalding spray of water, deciding against turning the heat down despite her discomfort, her eye dropping to stare at the drain by her feet, the water running down her pink by the time it reached the white floor tiles. Her arm twitched slightly, grabbing her attention, and she stared at it for a moment, studying the stubborn flakes of blood still clung there before she rubbed at her skin, a slow and deliberate movement that quickly turned into something frantic as Jinx was finally flooded by her feelings of terror.

Leaving her arm, her hands tried to reach the mark on her back as her mind told her removing it would make everything go back to normal, her nails breaking skin as she started crying, her tears disappearing in the spray of the shower. The door to the bathroom opened as Raven quickly entered the room, alarmed by the feelings she could feel coming from Jinx. She quickly stepped into the shower, ignoring the water as she grabbed Jinx's wrists and held the girl's hands in front of her to stop her from doing any more damage.

She silently cursed, wishing one of her friends were there, well aware that she didn't do 'comforting'. Unsure on what to do, she imagined she was dealing with a distraught Starfire and muttered in her best soothing voice, "It's okay. You're okay."

She flinched slightly as Jinx pressed her face into her shoulder. Letting go of the thief's wrists with one hand, and leaned around the girl and turned off the shower before using her powers to bring the towel on the rack over to them, draping it round Jinx.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so I was REALLY unsure about that last bit. Couldn't decided if maybe it was too much? But I clenched my jaw and decided to post it. It sets us off nicely for the start of the next chapter anyway. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **I'm in Australia. It's 8 fucking degrees centigrade. I should have gotten a bonus for showing up to work today (heaters or no heaters, there comes a point when it's just too damn cold to even think about modelling nude) The things I do for money ¬_¬

Anyways,

_**URGENT! **_**Please read! For the next month (**from the 7th of June, until the 7th July**), I will be in the outback. Aka, I will have **_**NO**_** internet signal so there won't be any updates. That is all :)**

**Reviews:**

**Silently Watches: **My, my, how interesting. I'd love to see the rest of Raven's little trip with the guardian of the dead.  
No, I think the last portion worked fine. With Jinx radiating sorrow and panic and guilt and everything else she was feeling, it's not at all surprising that Raven would try to comfort her even though she doesn't "do 'comforting'". Of course, the pinkette is going to have to learn not to pull on the tigress's tail like that. First saying only idiots would believe in demons, then ordering her around? Not a good start, Jinxy-cat.

_Don't worry, you'll get to see it all. Okay. Good. I was so… unsure about that after I'd written it. And yeeaaah Jinx hasn't really made a good start, has she?_

**Coot: **It's good, Jinx' mini breakdown works very well. She held together until she got to a safe place and then she fell apart. Given what has happened to her it is perfectly understandable that her emotions would break loose like they did.

_:) Glad to hear it worked!_

**Deathnoteuser: **Very nice. So you kept it as the cartoon/it's not common knowledge that Raven's a half demon then? I'm hoping that the rest of the HIVE 5 are still alive. It wouldn't be fair if the Titans were the only vigilante group alive in Jump.

_Yup. I do like having people know, but I think anyone outside the heroes shouldn't – I mean talking about asking to be chased down with pitchforks! Would be a shame, wouldn't it…_

**Discb: **I liked the last bit. Dark but it's a dark fic. The need for certain foods for Raven problems probably going to make Jinx really throw up if the bodies did. Either way great as always and I envy your diving classes. You're in the best country with best reefs while I'm stuck in the middle of a huge boring rock.

_Good. Ahah I'm not sure if I'm going to include that this time or not…. I suppose it does introduce an interesting dynamic…. Ahah saw a shark on my first open dive. It was so awesome =D But yeah, when I get back to England it'll be freezing water and old quarries I'll be diving. Although apparently there are some REALLY pretty kelp forests. _

**TyrionGreywind: **I didn't thinkn the last bit was too much, but that's just me. Is Gizmo alive then, and is it possible that Mammoth and See-More are as well, or is Jinx right? I hope to see the next update soon, maybe it will answer my questions.

_Those questions won't be answered in this chapter, but we'll see soon enough!_

* * *

Robin frowned down at the body, the putrid smell of stomach fluid threatening to overwhelm him, coming from the body's lower intestines and bowls that lay torn open, exposed to the fresh air. At a guess, Robin wouldn't have placed the boy as much older than eleven, his colourless cheeks still holding the gentle chubbiness of left over baby-fat. Robin was glad he hadn't had time to eat breakfast prior to receiving the call.

"So, what am I looking at?" He asked the coroner, wanting this to be over as soon as possible.

"The stomach's been torn into. It _looks_ like it was done by teeth and nails." Red flags raised in Robin's mind. "Human teeth, from the spacing – of course I can't say for sure until I've studied the body back at the lab and taken saliva samples." It was easy to hear the worry in the man's voice, and Robin didn't need to be a telepath to know what he was thinking.

"Nothing's been sighted even close to the city." The leader of the titans attempted to reassure the doctor. "All the same, have the police..?"

"A helicopter should be here soon to scope out the area, or so I've been led to believe. Several armed groups are already searching on foot."

"Was this the only body?"

"Yes, thankfully. We're not sure who he was, or why he was so far away from everything and alone, but we'll know soon enough."

Robin looked back at the yellow crime-scene tape that'd been hung haphazardly around several trees, studying the small band of journalists and reporters that had all ready gathered as he reached for his communicator, hesitating slightly, before he flipped it open.

"Robin calling Raven."

It was a well known fact, thanks to the media and the fact that people usually saw so little of her around officials, that the team's empath had a large role in helping the police and government prepare for the threat heading their way, and he didn't want the press putting two and two together, worried about the kind of panic it could cause within the city, but he knew that perhaps Raven was the only one who could confirm what had attacked and killed the boy there and then.

There was a moment where nothing happened, then the top screen flickered to life, showing Raven. The empath looked washed out, her skin paler than usual and large dark circles sitting under her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I want you at my location as soon as possible."

She straightened up slightly, suddenly looking more alert. "Am I bringing the others?"

"No, just yourself."

"I'll be there momentarily."

And she was, a black mass of energy rising up from the ground seconds after Robin clipped his T-Comm. back onto his belt.

"This better be quick." Raven's gravelly voice reached him as the dark energy began to dissipate. "We both have a meeting to attend with the mayor and Commissioner regarding the city's defence in fifteen minutes." She looked at Robin. "So what is it?"

But her nose told her before Robin could, and her amethyst gaze was quick to find the body, only a few feet away from them.

"Oh."

"Not to alarm anyone, but we _think_ it might have been one of those… _things_ from over east. Think you can verify that?" Robin asked, and the empath frowned.

"I'm not Beast Boy – I can't pick up its scent or something." She didn't have to look around to know how many people were there, able to sense them, and she added, "It's not that simple, especially not when there are so many people around."

Robin looked at the Coroner. "Think you could give us a minute?" He didn't look happy, but stood back, the lead of the titans turning back to Raven when he was sure the man was out of earshot. "Can't you just… pull your hood further down and keep your eyes down or something?"

"And what if it is a demon? I need _her_ near the front of my mind for this, and she's… territorial. I know how she'd react, and with the media on the other side of the yellow tape? No."

"You know that usually I would agree with you, but if they're already here, we _need to know_." Robin stressed.

The titan stared at him for a moment with cold eyes, before she looked around, making sure her back was facing the small gaggle of journalists and reporters as she knelt down near the body, careful not to get too close. Doing as Robin had suggested, she tugged her hood futher down until she was sure the blue material was covering her eyes from those standing. Closing her eyes, she didn't have to do much more than relax her shields to encourage her demon – her rage – to come forward and fill the new space, moving with such intensity that for a moment her shields threatened to fall all together.

She opened her eyes and they found the body, the wound in it's stomach quickly grabbing and holding her attention. The tearing in the flesh meant nothing to her, while an older demon might have been able to use the marks to identify who the threat was, but she knew something was wrong with it, making her feel threatened – something she wasn't accustomed too.

"Raven?"

She growled at the interruption, a deep rumble in her chest that was barely audible, and she felt Robin's alarm.

'_Serves him right.'_

She leaned back on her heels and glanced around them, Raven retaining enough control to make sure she kept her gaze low. She was looking out for movement, for whatever had torn the kid apart.

"Was it a demon?"

She ignore Robin, and had began to stand when Raven hit the brakes. She closed her eyes as the internal fight for control began, a memory of one of her mentors speaking to her as she struggled,

"_Centre yourself first – remind yourself of who you are. Meditation can come later."_

It was an old technique she'd used often as a child and not much since as her control grew. She silently started to chant several sentences to herself like a mantra, letting the statements ground her.

_My name is Raven Roth._

_My mother is Arella, formerly Angela Roth and resident of Earth. _

_I am a Teen Titan._

_My friends are superheroes._

_I'm a superhero._

When she finally opened her eyes again, her shields were back in place. "Well, for all the good than did. She's not happy, but if it's another demon… she doesn't know."

"She doesn't know?" Robin frowned. "Well is there anything else that might've done this that she'd get territorial with?"

"Of course. Anything of a magical nature. Dragon, sorcerer… you name it."

He scowled. It wasn't the answer he wanted to hear. "Well, what do you think it was? You have a good intuition Raven, when you use it."

Her expression hardened, but Robin could see her worry underneath. "That these meeting on the defence of the city are too little, too late."

* * *

Robin kept a tight grip on the woman's wrist, dragging her along as he ran, alternating between streets and alleyways, aware of the few 'followers' they'd gathered behind them. He knew he had to lose them before be could think about stopping and finding a defendable place, but what usually would have been a simple enough task was made near impossible by the civilian he had to protect. Exiting an alleyway and finding himself on a street entirely dedicated to office blocks, he ran for the first door he saw, shouting out encouragements for the woman to run faster. He hit the door with his shoulder, relief flooding through him when it easily and quickly swung open, out of their way.

Inside, he shoved the woman further into the lobby with his grip on the stranger's arm before pulling out his bo-staff and extending it out to its full length as he turned to face the closing doors. He helped them shut before sliding the bo-staff between the long bars that were often found on the doors of commercial buildings in place of turning door handles. For a split second, he panicked over how he was going to keep the bo-staff in place, before he reached for his grapple-hook off his belt and with one hand, holding the red handle between his teeth, he manually unwound the rope device before using the strong cord to tie the bo-staff to the door handles.

Letting it go, he stood back to admire his handy work, jumping as the first demon crashed into the reinforced glass of the doors, half expecting it to break from the impact. Turing away from the creature, he moved towards the woman, not even taking the time to look at her as he took hold of her wrist and continued moving, pulling her along.

"We can't stop yet. Hopefully this'll give us enough of a lead that'll be able to get you some place safe without them following." He glanced back at her, taking in her startled brown eyes, feeling slightly sorry for the woman. "You ready to run again?"

She silently nodded, but Robin could tell the woman was out of breath, breaking into a fast jog instead as he lead them through the building, following the signs that pointed them towards a rear fire exit. He didn't have to stop moving to open it, the lock releasing with one downward push on the horizontal bar, the green door swinging out to clatter against the brickwork of another alleyway. He started to run, the woman quickly speeding up to match him, and they cleared the narrow lane in seconds, crossing straight over the empty street and into another alleyway. Robin glanced over his shoulder, relieved when he couldn't see any doughy-skinned, yellowed eyed creatures following, but didn't relax.

"Just a little bit further." Robin encouraged as they followed the alleyway round the back of a building, the Boy Wonder stopping when he came to a man-hole over and removing it before looking at his new companion.

Expecting to have an argument on his hands he'd started to open his mouth, ready to convince her the sewers was their best bet, but when he looked the woman had sat down on the edge of the man-hole, her feet searching for the ladder leading down into the tunnels. Finding them, Robin watched as she quickly lowered herself into the sewers before following, pausing to put the cover back in place above his head, plunging them into darkness.

Robin grabbed the small, compact flashlight he kept on his belt and switched it one before moving further down, making sure the woman wasn't directly below him before dropping down the last few metal rungs.

"You alright?"

Her voice was shaken, but still managed to sound confident as she replied, "Yes. I… I think so."

"Good. We've got much further now, then we can rest. Hopefully they wont follow us down here." He started walking, carefully lightly the way, able the hear the woman stumbling behind in the ankle deep water and things he didn't want to think about. But he was –for once – glad it was there, knowing he'd be able to hear the demons if they found their way down here before they'd see them.

"What are 'they' exactly? No-one on the news ever gave us any real specifics. Are they aliens?"

"Not exactly, and I'm not sure you'd believe me if I told you." Robin quickly answered. The lack of specifics had been the Justice League's fault, and the Titans had quickly moved to back their decision, able to predict the public's reactions if such knowledge got out, and not having wanted to see any of them. "I don't believe I got your name."

"Oh, right, Of course. I'm Katie. I know who you are. You're Robin."

Unseen to her, the man rolled his eyes as he reached for his communicator off his belt. He came to a stop when his hand found the metal of his belt, quietly swearing as he looked down at his belt.

"What's wrong?"

"I've long my communicator. Must have dropped it in the hotel room. I'll have to go back for it later." He started walking again, this time moving much slower and he searched the walls with his torch, studying them for anything that might help him place where they were.

"Was it important?" The woman asked uncertainly.

"It just means I won't be able to use it to contact the rest of my team. I _was_ going to use the city map on it too, but luckily I made the effort to memorize the surrounding area of where we're going. I made sure we were close to it before I took us down here and-" his torch found the top corner of the tunnel and it joined onto a larger one. There was a chip missing out of it, quite a large chip, revealing some of the metal reinforcement that had rusted orange from the damp. "-luckily I know where we are."

Katie looked around them, her nose crinkling at the stench, more put off by it now the levels of adrenaline in her body had settled. "So, where are we going?"

"Somewhere safe." He neglected to tell her more. "Were you in the city on your own?"

"Yeah, on a badly timed business trip. End of the world or not, contracts have to be made. Besides, the government said they had it under control – we though it would've blown over within a few days."

Robin glanced back in time to see her small, self mocking smile, and found himself happy he'd found her, and not a wreck of a person. "Are you aware of how far it's spread?"

"I know it started in the state of New York." The woman shrugged, and Robin turned his eyes back to the tunnel in front of them.

"As far as we can tell, they've reached pretty much all of the USA. Canada too. And we've had a few reports from overseas." Robin decided to tell her after a moment of internal debate.

"You mean…"

He quickly clicked onto her line of thought, and looked back at the woman, offering her a smile. "No. Not if the Titans can do anything about it. We _will_ stop this. But first things first, we need to get you to safety. We'll search out the others and then get you to the camp just outside the city. You'll be safe there." Coming to a stop, he turned to face one of the walls of the tunnel, Katie frowning as he removed one of his green gloves and held his hand against the slick wall. "Do you know how to fight?"

She watched with wide eyes as a segment of the wall popped out, displaying a keypad. "I… uh, I mean I punched a guy in fourth grade."

The leader of the Titans typed in the pass-code, and a section of the tunnel wall rose up, disappearing into the ceiling. "I'm going to give you something to defend yourself with – I'll do my absolute best to keep you safe, but I'm only human, and I don't want to leave you defenceless." He shone his torch into the revealed room, the light bouncing off the gadget-lined walls, and found the light-switch, flicking it on and flooding the small space with a harsh fluorescent glow. He ushered Katie inside, before checking the tunnel behind them and closing the door. "There should be bottles of water towards the back of the room if you're thirsty. We'll rest for a moment before heading out again, or if you'd prefer, you can stay here until I've located my team – you'd be perfectly safe."

The woman pusher her auburn hair away from her eyes as she studied the room in something close to shock. "I'd… rather come with you, if you don't mind but…." She tugged at the pencil skirt she was wearing with a frown. "You don't happen to have anything more practical that I could wear lying around?"

* * *

Raven chewed on her bottom lip as she studied the drier that had been shoved into the small kitchen along with a matching washing machine. Unlike Jinx, she was loath to use the items in the apartment, more than aware that they belonged to someone somewhere, but her clothes had gotten soaked from the spray of the shower while comforting the meta human, and she was beginning to feel cold. Deciding to use the drier, she began to strip but paused, blushing as he looked around her for something to wear in the mean-time, her uniform having already found it's way into the trash, the empath too uncomfortable with herself to consider talking around in any state of undress while someone else was around. The kettle had finished boiling during her silent dilemma, and Raven decided to make it her main focus as she turned her back on the drier and made a fresh mug of coffee before taking it to the thief, who was huddled on the sofa in nothing but the towel Raven had draped around her.

"Here." She passed Jinx the mug, making sure the girl had a good grip on it before letting go, not missing the way Jinx fought to look at anything but her.

The thief cleared her throat before forcing her tear-sore eyes to look at the empath, offering her a small smile. "Well…. This is awkward."

"It was a natural response. Expected, really." Raven offered with a small shrug. "You have no reason to feel ashamed or embarrassed."

"Easy for you to say – you didn't have a breakdown in front of the enemy."

"I think, under the current situation, we are on the same side. Agreed?"

Jinx's smile widened slightly and she nodded. "Agreed." She took a sip of her drink, before her eyes narrowed and she regarded the titan suspiciously. "How did you know? I thought I was being quiet."

"I could feel your distress. I'm an empath."

Her eyes widened slightly. "No fair! That's so cheating."

Raven rolled her eyes. "You should get dressed before you catch a cold."

"Hey – I haven't finished my shower yet."

"Well make it quick. We've already been here too long, and I don't like to think of what might have found our trail. I want to get moving as soon as possible."

Jinx didn't argue as she got to her feet, taking her coffee with her. "Any ideas on where we're gonna find a generator, because I really do think it'd be a good idea to get one."

"We have spares back at the tower." Raven told her as she moved back over to the kitchen and pulled the drier door open. "But how about we focus on the other things on our list first? We can survive quite comfortably without a generator, and if we find my teammates within the next day or two, we won't need one."

The empath waited until Jinx had shut herself into the bathroom before quickly undressing and shoving her clothes into the drier before she could change her mind, setting it on it's highest setting, knowing they wouldn't be dry before they left, but deciding damp clothes were better than soaked.

She stood with her arms awkwardly crossed over her chest , her eyes watching the bathroom door, until she heard water flow through the pipes in the building, letting her know the shower had been turned on. Relaxing slightly, she decided to take the time she had to have a better look at her injuries, studding her bruised ribs first with her eyes, and then with her fingers, alarmed by how black the bruising still was, and able to feel one of her lower ribs was broken awkwardly in several places, not needing a doctor to tell her that would never heal properly. The cuts and scrapes on her legs from the fall had already almost healed, though there were a few new raw spots where Raven had dug gravel out of her skin during her shower and she gave them only a moment's notice as she ran her hands over the skin, making sure she hadn't missed any bits.

Walking over to the backpack, she searched through the packets and tins Jinx had packed in before reaching her belt and – beneath that – her communicator, bundled up in a small patch of her cloak. Raven placed her belt on the kitchen counter before unravelling the broken communicator, gingerly opening it and staring to the cracked screen as though it might flicker to life despite the wires hanging out it's back.

"It's waterproof, _and_ practically heat proof." Raven muttered to herself. "You _think_ they would have made it shock resistant too."

Turning it around, she completely ripped the back off before digging through it for the locator device, pulling out a chip the size of the nail on her little finger, the thing bent down the middle, almost broken into two pieces.

"So much for that…"

She did her best to fit it back where it belonged before she started to fiddle with the broken wires, trying to reconnect them all. She didn't hear the shower stop over the noise of the drier, nor did she hear the bathroom door open minutes later. It was Jinx's voice that grabbed her attention.

"Rae, that thing is totalled. Even Giz would struggle to repair it."

The titan dropped her communicator onto the kitchen surface as she crossed her arms, doing her best to cover her chest in a way that she hoped wasn't too obvious. Jinx didn't miss it though, and she grinned, enjoying the titan's embarrassment.

"So, you really are grey all over, huh?"

Raven did her best to ignore the villain as she moved over to the drier and stopped it, pulling out her damp clothes and quickly getting dressed, not enjoying feeling exposed and – despite knowing she was anything but – defenceless. "You ready to start moving?"

"Sure." Jinx nodded, dropping her towel on the floor and moving for the backpack as Raven fastened on her bet over the black leggings and blue tank top that'd replaced her uniform. She walked over to Jinx and put her broken communicator back into the bag.

"Those are some nasty bruises." Jinx commented, having noticed the full extent of Raven's injures during the girl's state of undress, slightly worried about them.

"Nothing I can't handle." Raven shrugged.

"Speaking of which… how'd I get this?" Jinx brought the thick scar on her lower arm to the empath's attention.

"One of the demons had a grip on your arm when I hit it with a wave of black energy." Raven answered, making her way towards the door. She focused on the shoe-box Jinx had placed in front of it, and imagined it sliding to the side.

It moved across the laminate flooring almost effortlessly, Jinx slightly put out by how easy the empath made it look after she'd struggled to put it there in the first place. "So, where we going first?"

"We'll fill up the rest of this bag using the apartments on this floor, then go and empty the backpack." Raven replied, and Jinx nodded.

"Lead the way. Just take your time. I am _not_ looking forward to the whole teleporting thing. I didn't like it the first time, and the feeling aint improved much over the years."

"The first time?" Raven frowned.

"Yeah, when you dragged me outa your tower after we kicked your sorry butts."

"Oh, yeah. I'd almost forgotten about that." Raven mused.

"I hadn't. It was hell creepy."

* * *

"Well she's not here. You sure this is where she fell, Star?" Cyborg asked as he studied the street in front of them.

"Certain."

"Rae's not here, but this is." Beast Boy pointed out the body of a doughy-skinned lesser demon. "And it's the only body on the street. She was here."

"BB, see if you can sniff her out."

"On it." The changeling nodded before he shifted into a bloodhound and lowered his nose to the ground.

It didn't take him long to sniff out Raven's scent, as unique as it was overpowering. He followed it to its strongest point, finding himself stood over the fallen demon, and he reverted back into his human form before looking at his two friends.

"She was definitely here."

"Pleas say she left a trail for us to follow." Cyborg said desperately. "If she teleported, we'll _never_ catch up with her."

Beast Boy shifted back into his bloodhound form and searched the area around the lesser demon's body, coming to a stop and backtracking before he barked at his teammates and being running down the street.

"I believe he has found Raven's scent!" Starfire told Cyborg as she moved to follow the changeling.

"Ya' think?"

"They followed Beast Boy onto Main Street, where he took a right and made his way towards the Town Hall, where the evacuation should have taken place. Cyborg and Starfire studied the street around them now they had the time to look, both shocked by the body count of both humans and demons.

"Where did they all come from, and why does there already seem to be so many in our city?" Starfire asked quietly.

"They did move pretty quickly." Cyborg acknowledged. "Maybe there's more than one place their usin' to cross over or whatever Rae called it?"

Beast Boy slowed down as they reached the forgotten buses before he started tracing a path the other couldn't see, taking it several times bath and forth, back and forth.

"What's wrong B?" Cyborg asked, doing his best to keep his eyes off their surrounding and on Beast Boy, unlike the Tameranian princess, who couldn't seem to look anywhere else.

"It is almost the Déjà vu, no?"

Beast Boy reclaimed his human form before commenting, "I think I preferred it when it was four-eyes' fault. I mean, we might've been totally useless but at least Rae kinda knew what she was doing. Not to mention stone people don't smell half as bad."

"What was with the pacing?" Cyborg pushed, reminding the changeling he was waiting for an answer.

"Oh, yeah. Raven's been here. Twice."

"Twice?"

"How can you tell?" Starfire frowned.

"Because like over here-" he pointed to his right, "-it's just her, but over here her scent's mixed up with someone else's."

"Who's?" Starfire and Cyborg both demanded, hoping he'd say Robin.

"I'm not sure. It…" He crinkled his nose and frowned slightly. "It smells like Jinx."

* * *

**Shorter than the last chpt, but like I said, I'm gonna be away for a month, and I wanted to get something posted.**


	5. Chapter 5

As most of you know, I am not American. This chapter includes the mention of various USA government branches. **I don't know if I got it right!** I did how ever research it as best I could in the time I had. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

**A/N: When I left for the month long holiday, I thought to myself **_**"I'm sure to get a few chapters written for Nightmare and Friday 13th!" **_**– HAH! I was getting LOADS of inspiration from the camping trip, honest. It's just all gone into the 'middle' few chpts of Nightmare, and we're not quite there yet! I did, however, manage to write this chpt while I was away :) (I'm back, btw :P) **

**Reviews****:**

**Deathnoteuser: **Ahah, Robin's alive! I didn't notice until just now, but it seems that I unintentionally rhymed last review. Anyway, good chapter though there are a lot of spelling/grammar/word use errors BUT you were in a hurry and it was rather late in Aussie, no? Raven can't heal breaks fully, but she can't set her ribs either? Also, Jinx seemed a bit too...calm after her breakdown, maybe it's just me but that's how I feel. I've always wondered why Raven doesn't teleport more often in the cartoon.

_Yeah, I was in a rush – I've had plenty of time to re-read this chapter though (though that's not me saying it's perfect. I bet you'll still find a few typos) Ahah it's hard enough to set ribs as it is (as in near impossible unless you're lucky with the break) if she can't fully heal a break I don't see why (or how) she'd be able to set AND heal her own ribs. Hmm no I was wondering about that too…. But I mean when you think about Jinx, and you think about her freaking out? She's got a pretty level head in MY mind. So do I. I've come up with several possible theories (mainly about the lines of interdimension travel (mentioned in the comics) and how else her teleportation abilities might work._

**Dawsen: **Cool chapter! Sorry about the cold though. Where I live it can be above 35 Celcius for months at a time. I dislike extremes.

_Glad you liked. Ahah it's 'kay – just came back from a holiday up north Aussie and it was 40-45 degrees. The cold is now a welcome break xD_

**Djedefre: **A bit short, but worth the wait. Have a good holiday. Djedefre

_I am trying to get the chapters for this as long as possible, but I didn't want to leave for a month without giving you guys something to read! (this chapter's kinda short too, BUT the content's pretty good. I hope you'll agree)_

**Discb: **Have fun  
Raven's gonna be a carry during the recovery at the end of this fic assuming it ends that way.

_A carry? (I did have fun. LOTS OF IT! – Three words. 'Whale Sharks' and 'Diving' – Thanks!)_

**TyrionGreywind: **A whole month?! Ah, I guess I'll live... And kudos to Beast Boy for knowing Jinx's scent... I find it a little odd that he'd remember, but you never know

_Think yourself lucky. You went a whole month without updates, I went a whole month sleeping on the floor (seriously) You never know, but I figured he's fought her enough for it to be like recognising his team mates (only not as certain) _

**Chaosrin: **Those news about the demon spread how would they suppress it? I mean in this digital day and age of twitter and facebook the news would have been viral already and I sort of take that DC universe would have a more advanced tech Infrastructure than ours like the Justice League Watchtower and Lexcorp and alien goodies. People would want the tech to spread around. Still kind of weird how there's no sense of action over what happening over 'those… things from over east' feel's a bit muted.  
Anyway do update

_It is the modern day, BUT the guys behind the animation did say Jump was based in an alternate 60s/70s (inspired by the Superman series they based in the 50s). In other words, Facebook? What's facebook. Indeed the media still has a part to play, but you'll see over the chapters as I bring in more flashbacks how things were done to keep everything low key – as far as the technology goes 1), it'd be REALLY expensive, hence why it's only your big players that seem to have it in the comics and 2) these is demons. Until Cyborg put Raven's DNA into the systems along with WHAT it means, only people like herself and Dr Midnite were really qualified to know what it was they were looking at. I'm going on the same sorta basis, and JL rarely deal with demons (ignoring Jason Blood) :) _

* * *

"_I'm not sure. It…" He crinkled his nose and frowned slightly. "It smells like Jinx."_

"Are you sure, B?" Cyborg asked, the left side of his face – the organic side – creasing with his scepticism as his brow pulled down.

"Not a hundred percent, no. I don't know her scent that well, but…" He fell silent, his ears dropping slightly as he concentrated on something, an old memory perhaps. "I'm animal enough that I remember scents much better than your average guy, and I'm _pretty sure_ it's Jinx."

"So Raven went to our right, where she found Jinx, then came back this way?" Starfire asked, and Beast Boy shook his head.

"She teleported here with Jinx. There's no trail back here."

"Rae's probably looking for us," Cyborg noted. "We'll follow the path she took with Jinx – it'll be the most recent one out of the two. If luck's on our side, they won't be too far ahead of us."

Beast Boy nodded before he shifted into a bloodhound and began walking, his nose to the ground.

"She is probably following the route down the main road," Starfire offered. "It would make the most sense, no? As far as our friend is concerned, that's where we last were."

"You'd think so," Cyborg nodded, frowning when Beast Boy lead them slightly off from the main road. "But apparently not. I'm sure Rae knows what she's doing. Even if we don't."

They followed the changeling into a large apartment complex, where they climbed several sets of stairs before starting out along a corridor that had probably seen better days, the white walls stained and linoleum flooring scuffed in several places. More than weary of every door they passed, they travelled in silence until Beast Boy came to a stop outside a closed door, shifting back into his human form.

"They went in here," he frowned. "Am I the only one wondering what they were doing here?"

"Nope." Cyborg shook his head. "I'll guess we'll find out."

He stepped around the changeling and towards the door, left hand transforming itself into his sonic cannon as he grabbed the door handle with his right. He turned the handle, his cannon aimed at the centre of the doorway as he shoved it open, half expecting to have encountered some means of a barricade. Stepping inside, he did a quick sweep of the room before lowering his arm.

"I think we're good."

The two titans followed him in, taking in the small living area. It was obvious _someone_ had been here. Cupboard doors had been left open, and a towel was sitting on the floor by what they assumed to be the bathroom.

"They must have been here for a good hour, if not more." Beast Boy moved round the room, heading for the kitchen as Starfire closed the front door behind them. "The place stinks of them." In the kitchen, he picked up a mug on the bench top, waving at Cyborg and Starfire. "They even had time for tea."

"It was probably a rest point of sorts." Cyborg pointed out. "I mean, it's pretty safe for Raven to keep on the move. Maybe not so much now she's got Jinx, if they come across a large group of the things, but… They make a trail out of here?"

The changeling nodded. "Leading further into the apartment block."

"We could look, but perhaps Raven has a destination in mind." Starfire gestured to the open cupboards "The city was left in a rush; no doubt quite a few things would have been left behind yet Raven and Jinx seem to have done a good job of clearing the place. It is a lot of things to carry, no? Suppose they have a base of sorts? I doubt they would linger somewhere like here."

Cyborg shrugged. "Well right now it's all we got, so we might as well follow it."

The two titans nodded, Beast Boy shifting back into a blood hound as they left the apartment, closing the door behind them. They checked out two more apartments next door to each other, all with their cupboards open, before they lost the empath's trail. Beast Boy regained his human form, looking glum as he announced, "Lost them. Rae probably teleported."

"As I suggested, Raven has probably set up a camp somewhere else. Somewhere she feels safe." Starfire spoke up.

Beast Boy grinned. "Great! So now we just need to figure out what Rae would consider a good base, and we've found them!"

"Easier said than done." Cyborg muttered, and the Tameranian nodded.

"As much as we like to think we do, we do not know Raven all that well. To narrow where she might set up base down to a few places…. It will not be easy, and we could completely miss some locations off our list."

"Well, we know she'll want to be somewhere where she doesn't feel cornered in, but is still protected, which kinda cuts out any place small."

"We do?" Cyborg asked.

"Think about it dude. I mean, that's where I'd want to be, and we both have the whole not-totally-human instincts thing going on."

"But we do not know how a demon thinks. Perhaps they are not like your animals."

"The lesser demons we've seen all pretty much acted like animals. Just wild ones. That were REALLY hungry. Like starved." Beast Boy frowned as he thought more on it.

"Well, it's the best start we have." Cyborg shrugged. "So we pretty much know we wont find them camping out in apartments, houses or anything with lots of small, enclosed spaces. Where does that leave?"

"The mall of shopping. The town hall. The public library, Titans Tower… oh, and perhaps the old rooms under the library, though I would never like to see them again, and I am sure I'm not the only one."

"Yeah, I can't exactly see Rae camping out in the mall." The changeling smiled.

Starfire shrugged. "It was a suggestion. If you think you know better…"

"I'd say the creepy place under the old library is a pretty good suggestion." He replied, and seeing their faces, quickly added, "Well she's the only person who can get in and out of the place. I'd say that stands for these things too."

Cyborg looked at Starfire, who nodded, and shrugged. "It's worth a look."

* * *

Jinx left Raven to bar the door behind them, finding a notepad on one of the shelves and tearing the packaging off before searching the small shop for a pen, announcing loudly, "I think we should make a list of everything we want. You know, so we know what we're looking for and so we can cross off stuff we already have."

"Well _food_ and drinkable water would be a good start." Jinx heard Raven mutter somewhat sarcastically.

"Plates, knives, forks, spoons, a pair of scissors, a tea towel, a kettle – preferably a stove kettle, something we don't need a plug socket for - tea, coffee, sugar-"

"Don't you think that's a little… extravagant?" Raven interrupted as he appeared within sight of the thief. "I mean what are you trying to do? Kit out a house?"

"Just because the world's going to shit, doesn't mean we have to." Jinx replied, reaching the front counter, smiling as her eyes landed on a biro. Leaning on the counter she began to write in the notepad.

_Food (non-perishables)_

_Drinking water_

_Kitchen utensils_

_Camping stove (gas)_

_Pots/Pans/Kettles_

_Cutlery_

_Changes of clothes_

_Generator_

_Diesel (for Gen.)_

_Tea Towel_

_Tea/Coffee/Sugar_

_Something to sleep on!_

_Toothpaste/ toothbrush_

_Hairbrush_

She tapped the pen on the counter a few times before looking back to Raven, who was stacking several crates of water bottles off the shelves and onto the floor beside her feet. "Any input? Because if you don't speak up, you won't get it."

The empath rolled her eyes, deciding not to reply as, finishing with the water, she began to search the other shelves for anything useful, finding several packs of matches that she quickly shoved into her backpack.

"I'm being serious." Jinx said when she realised she wasn't going to get an answer.

"No. Nothing. I can suffice just fine with what we already have, thank you."

"Suit yourself, but while it's still here, we might as well use it. I know you said you were gonna fix the world and all that superhero shit, but to me it looks like we might be going quite a while without things like, I dunno, the comfort of civilisation."

"We'll figure something out." Raven replied, her tone sharp.

"You don't even know what the hell these things are."

"I _told_ you, they're demons. I'm just unsure as to _where_ they're from."

"You're still going with that?" Jinx asked, watching Raven with something akin to disbelief. "You know, I didn't take you for the religious type."

"_I'm not_." The empath stressed through gritted teeth, her patience just about gone. "Jinx you've seen them, what else could they possibly be?"

"Aliens? Humans mutated by some lab-grown disease?" The thief shrugged. Seeing Raven wasn't convinced, she stopped and frowned. It was true, the titan had a reputation for being unfailingly serious, even if she'd already pulled a few joking remarks from the girl. But there were joking remarks, and there was this. "Seriously, stop with the bullshit." She didn't sound as convicted, uncertainty creeping into her lilted voice.

"Believe what you want." Raven muttered as she made her way back to the shelf of water. "Just do something useful and see if you can find anything else of use in this place." She looked around at the shelves and the meagre amount of stock left.

Jinx started moving, giving shelves half a glance, but she didn't let the conversation drop. "Okay, so say they are demons. What could you possibly know about them that I don't?"

"Call it my area of speciality. Cyborg does mechanics, Robin leads, I… do the magic and…" Her face creased into a frown as she tried to find the right words, eventually giving up and with a grimace going for Beast Boy's description, "'mystical weird stuff', to quote a team mate."

Jinx grinned. "I knew you were a witch."

"Technically, I'm not." Raven paused, taking a break as she focused on the conversation.

"Whatever. Great. But how do you know your sources of information are reliable?"

"In my dimension, nobody questions the existence of demons, and a fair few studies have been conducted and written about. I think you'd be surprised about the number of legit books that come from Earth, too."

"Your dimension?" Deciding that the shelves held nothing of particular worth, she began to make her way back towards the empath and seeing her shoving loose water bottles into her backpack, dropped her own next to the titan and quickly began to fill it.

"My dimension."

"You're not from earth?"

"My mother is a legal American citizen, though she has not lived in this Dimension for close to twenty two years."

"She a witch too?"

"No. She's perfectly human."

"Which I'm going to take as meaning your Dad aint. So you're like what? Eighteen, nineteen? "Shit. I would have pegged you for bein' older than me."

"No. I'm not. Though my age is none of your damned business."

"Awh come on, don't be like that. I turned twenty last month. Damn. Twenty. Aint that a scary thought. I think I'm missing my youth already."

"You can't even legally drink yet." Raven pointed out, and she felt amusement pour off the woman.

"Yup. That'll be the fun gone from yet one more thing." Jinx straightened up, zipping her bag and grabbing it by the strap as she deemed it full, before looking at Raven, smiling. "Not that it means I won't drink."

"You drink any time during all this, and I'm leaving you on the side of the road."

"Well, that's not very nice. Lucky for me, I know when to drink, and right now? No thanks. I'd like to see what's attacking before it attacks me. I'd also like to be able to aim straight. Dunno about you, but my hexes tend to get somewhat explosive and…. Random when I'm drunk. And that's when I'm trying to use them. You should see the passive damage they do to electronics."

"I don't drink." She turned back to her bag. "But I understand the electronics thing."

"You too? I don't even want to count how many microwaves we get through in a year. I wouldn't mind, but I don't even know I'm doin' it. An' it's a good job we don't have anything like your T-Car or we'd need new tires every month. Rubber _hates_ me. For some reason it degrades hell fast. Though I guess we won't have to worry much about that for a wh-_FUCK!_"

Raven turned to look at Jinx, confused by her outburst. Two things happened simultaneously. Raven, seeing Jinx had her gaze fixed firmly on something, followed it until she found herself looking at the front of the shop, while outside shapes flooded the pavement - having picked up Jinx's scent - the first one bringing its doughy fists down on the glass pane in the door, sending a dull '_thud'_ through the shop. They'd been found.

The empath didn't even bother trying to count how many there were, more joining the first in its assault of the store front. The pair had thought to bar the door but weren't sure it would hold for very long, able to see the door move with each fist that found it, while others threw themselves against the front windows, their mutated lips pulled back in a snarl that revealed yellowed and broken teeth.

"We running out the back?" Jinx asked, though she had already started backing up towards the fire escape.

"Two minutes. I don't want to waste a trip." Raven replied as she quickly ripped the plastic packaging from another carton of spring water and began to shove bottles into her backpack.

"Two more minutes and they'll be in here!"

"I know."

She looked at Raven with wide eyes, frustration intermingling with her fear, turning it into something close to panic. "Then how can you be so bloody calm?!"

A bang came from the back of the shop, and both women froze, trying to listen for any more movement. They heard the skittish sound of nails clipping on tiles, and Jinx stumbled back until she was beside Raven, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped humming bird.

"Grab one of the cartons."

She heard Raven, but didn't really understand the words, Jinx's eyes being drawn back to the front of the shop where she noticed a crack on one of the windows. She felt true panic then and in a moment of complete abandonment, convinced they were done for, she turned and crushed her lips against Raven's in a bruising kiss, her free arm throwing itself around the woman's shoulders.

Raven almost dropped her backpack, the insistent press of Jinx's soft lips against hers and the warmth of her body preceding the immediate threat in her thoughts. In a moment of amnesia, forgetting both who she was and where they were, Raven had started to kiss Jinx back when one of the windows, finally giving up to the mass of bodies pressing against it, grabbed her attention and pulled her back down to reality. She jerked back but kept the woman's arm around her shoulders she muttered her mantra, the first demon only inches away from them when they were swallowed by the empath's soul self.

Jinx's cheeks were pink by the time the dark energy had receded, and in the dull light of the cavernous rooms that had become their base, she saw Raven's brow rise, not able to tell if it was a display of amusement, distain, or simply a silent question.

Grinning sheepishly, she said, "Oh, yeah. I forgot you could do that." She didn't really wait for Raven to comment as she dropped her backpack and snaked that arm around the titan's neck to complete the embrace, leaving Raven frozen in place, too shocked and bewildered to think of stepping back out of the woman's reach. "Although since that's the case…"

She kissed the empath again, slower this time and, _'impossibly'_ Raven thought, softer. She didn't know what to do, thinking she should pull back but finding that she enjoyed the feeling of being kissed, and of the gentle warmth, barely there really, that had kindled low in her stomach.

She didn't pull back, but she didn't really respond either other than to drop her backpack, letting it hit the floor with a dull '_thud_' and slosh of water. Jinx pulled back smiling and studied the empath for a moment before she de-tangled her arms from around Raven's neck and picked up both of the backpacks, walking over to where they'd started stacking everything in piles dictated by content.

Raven watched her, almost a minute passing by in silence before she asked, "What was that?"

"Well the first time I forgot you could teleport and yeah, I thought we were done for. You know, a spur of the moment _'shit I'm gonna die let's do something crazy' _thing. The second time?" She shrugged. "I wanted to." The look of disbelief and confusion on Raven's face made her laugh. "You're not much of a spur of the moment kinda girl, are you?"

"Is it that obvious?" Raven asked dryly, bringing another chuckle from Jinx, who went back to sorting through their backpacks.

"If it helps you any, you can pretend it was me thanking you for saving my ass."

The titan moved over to help, only pausing to frown, "We left two crates of water behind."

"Wow Rae. Ain't like you to get distracted."

"Shut up." Raven muttered, but her small smile didn't go unnoticed.

(…..)

_**FLASHBACK **_

"All air-traffic's been grounded in the western states now, and pretty much every country's threatened to sink any Canadian, North American or South American vessel seen sailing within sight of their maritime borders." Robin's noticeably unhappy voice penetrated the silence in the common room, announcing his and Raven's appearance, back from the security meeting at the town hall.

It hadn't been Robin's idea for them to attend – Robin wouldn't have even known about it if it hadn't been for the Police Commissioner – and sat at the large and well polished conference table, a large projected screen displaying the conference rooms of another dozen town halls along with the representative for the DHS and two leading war generals, it was clear not everyone wanted them there. Even the commissioner seemed to have second thoughts upon seeing the team's empath with Robin instead of Cyborg, the titan's usual companion to meetings with the council.

"Well if you ask me it was just a matter of time before they cut off the air traffic this side of the country too." Cyborg shrugged. "The states over east have been grounded for over a week now. And I can't say the last bit surprises me either. It's a smart move, so long as the damned things don't learn how to swim."

"The government's decided to evacuate the camps FEMA set up," Robin continued, "And they've chosen cities along the coast to receive the refugees. We're one of them. Apparently we'll be receiving a couple hundred people within the next week alone."

Both Beast Boy's and Cyborg's faces were the very picture of alarm, the changeling exclaiming, "The city isn't big enough!"

"It doesn't matter. We won't receive that many people." Raven's calm and certain tone caught the attention of her team mates, and their eyes followed her almost wearily as she moved further into the room and took a seat on the sofa next to Starfire. "They'll lose too many people trying to evacuate them. The highways are at a standstill there's that many cars on them, and the front line is advancing forward over more land with every day. They'll never reach the city before the demons catch up with them. They'd save more people keeping them in the camps, where they're not so open to attack and already have soldiers positioned."

"Well did you tell them that?" Cyborg asked.

"I did."

"After telling two generals and the rep. for the DHS that they should abandon the fight on the front line and disperse their troops out across the FEMA camps. Needless to say they didn't like that." Robin told them.

"The latest reports from over east stated demons were still exiting the rift in high numbers. For every one someone kills, five more replace it. I don't need to be a general to know that trying to fight off the front is a waste of time and lives, and isn't pro-active in the least, at least not until we –or someone else – has closed the rift."

"I know who I'd be listening too." Beast Boy muttered, offering Raven a smile.

"Indeed, I agree with Raven, but you have to see it from their point of view. They are receiving contradicting advice, one from a group of people _used_ to fighting mass numbers of enemies, and the other from someone who is generally known for being in single combat." Starfire pointed out. "I also know, from experience, that generals on my planet do not like to take advice from those younger and less experienced than themselves unless they have proven themselves in battle, whether their advice makes sense or not."

"What are the Justice League doing?" Cyborg asked his leader.

"Last I heard, Batman had made it onto their moon base, and Wonder Woman, Superman and Green Lantern had been sent to help the soldiers fighting the front, which last I heard was approaching Colorado fast. A few other members have been sent to the busier camps to help out both now and when the demons reach them. I'm hoping to get a call from Batman later today."

"At least we've still managed to avoid a mass panic." Cyborg tried to throw in enthusiastically. "Everything still going to be kept quiet regarding, you know, what they are?"

"Apart from the religious nuts who're convinced this is Judgement Day, because we can't really do much about them." Robin nodded. "I think the 'rumours' various branches of the Government have spread about viruses and radiation is the best thing they've done during this whole crisis. It seems to be occupying most people, anyway." He took a seat on the sofa, leaning against the back and letting his eyes close. "One day. That's all I'm asking for. One day without meetings, or villains or… anything."

"You know we've had it rough when Robin starts complaining." Beast Boy grinned.

As soon as the changeling had finished speaking, as though on cue, the klaxons sounded, alerting them to an emergency. A chorus of sighs erupted from the sofa, Raven the only one who moved to the computer, typing in her pass-code and reading the information the crime scanner gave her before glancing back at the rest of the team still sat on the sofa and telling them unhappily, "The H.I.V.E Five."

"Some things never change." Robin muttered as he got to his feet. "Okay team, let's make this quick."

(…)

**A/N:** It wasn't that long, but hopefully the content made up for it haha. See you next chapter!


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